The official signpost for the Camino is the Scallop Shell.  In theory the spines point to the base of the shell and that is the direction we are supposed to go. You can tell however that even with the few Scallop Shells you see here they are not reliable (and people would steal them).  

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The Camino de Santiago is, for the most part, maintained by a group called “The Friends of the Camino”.  As a result, a lot of the directional arrows, the ONLY way to really find your way along the trail, are painted like graffiti and you find them just about everywhere.   

a large part of the trails are in extremely remote areas.  As a result, you can see for yourself, some of the markers are not only primitive, they are almost impossible to see.  I missed one the other day and ended up hiking up over a mountain on a goat path.  The good thing about getting lost along the Camino is that “All trails lead to the Camino”.  Because people have been making this Pilgrimage for 1,000 years, there are countless branches and feeder trails so as long as you keep going the same direction, more or less, you will end up back on the main trail; I did anyway.  I have to admit though, there were times when I was more than unnerved.  As spartan as these little yellow arrows are, they are your friend.  When they disappear you find yourself feeling a little bit empty inside.  

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Oddly enough you barely see any graffiti done in this same color yellow; it’s as if it is the sacred color of the Camino (Whew) 

So, to all of those people out there that keep painting these arrows I raise my glass.  I’m only on day 16 but I have lost count of how many times I was starting to wonder if I was on the right path and then, out of nowhere there would be the trustworthy little yellow arrow; oft times in the oddest of locations, but always pointing in the right direction.  

It would be nice if we had little yellow arrows in our life so when we reached a difficult crossroad there would be a trustworthy little sign telling us which way to go.

Joe Jeter  October 16, 2014

It’s hard to appreciate the enormity of this task until you actually walk the Camino.  There are countless twists and turns, and