But back to the Camino, It never ceases to amaze me that I can set off on a walk of several hundred miles without a proper map, and not get lost.
That this is possible, is all due to the amazing sign posting along the way. The traditional yellow arrow painted onto features (hopefully permanent ones!) indicating the way ahead, is the simplest and oldest way mark. It is all that is needed and works perfectly. You can't imagine the good feeling and reassurance that seeing your next yellow arrow brings.
On our recent trip there was just one place where more yellow arrows are needed and this was in the heart of the large town of Ponferrada. Normally, unless there is no other direction to go but ahead, you can see your next arrow. In Ponferrada there were stretches where this was not the case, and we had to keep going hoping and trusting another yellow arrow would appear; thankfully it always did!
While a yellow arrow is all that is needed, as the camino has got busier, the signage has got more sophisticated. Invariably the modern signs still include the yellow arrow, but they also include the traditional camino emblem of the cockleshell, appearing rather attractively and significantly as a sunburst.
The forms these twin emblems of the camino take are many and varied. Here are some of my favourites starting with the wall mounted tile, beautifully simple:
There were lots of these pseudo trig points along the way:
They were very good for seeing some way off and they also provided a fine perching point for a rest. The drawback was that they tended to attract a lot of graffiti - clearly many find the simple white background irresistible.
Occasionally we'd come across a 'one-off', seemingly the creation of the local municipality, and these were great as no two were ever the same.
I particularly liked the wooden ones as they always gave the impression of being hand made by a local craftsman.
However, these wooden ones, resembling the footpath signs at home, didn't seem to have quite the same touch of a craftsman. Mind you, by now we were getting very close to Santiago and, the closer we got, the less individual the signs seemed to be.
These last signs, however, were rather special as they appeared on the streets of Santiago leading up to the cathedral.
It was a good job that there were so many of them as the cathedral failed to reveal itself until almost the last moment. It certainly wasn't a case of being led in by the spires; mind you with so many pilgrims to follow, we could hardly get lost.
Lots of love Gio and friends xxx
1 comment:
Suffolk Branch like the sound of this clear and easy navigation. You definitely wouldn't want to be dithering around wondering where to go when you had so many miles to cover. Perhaps this sort of signage will catch on here too!
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