What do the different signage elements that you will find walking along the Jacobean routes towards Santiago mean? We tell you
The signage of the different routes of the Camino de Santiago is one of the problems that traditionally worry most before pilgrimage for the first time; Will we lose easily? Will we know how to interpret the signals? Will they be clear enough? Fortunately, the Camino de Santiago is usually well indicated, with clear and visual signs at each junction and every few kilometers of route. Therefore, simply knowing what each of the signs mean, we should not have problems to easily reach the end of each route.
To guide you on your pilgrimage you should only attend to the three types of signs that you will find below, however, as in any hiking route, it will also be useful to know the position of the sun when you walk (remember that the sun rises through the east and it is set in the west). With this simple trick you will know in each moment in what cardinal point you are heading.
The cairns you will find generally separated from each other by 1 kilometer (every 500 meters when you enter Galicia), usually at crossroads or on the same path of the route. As for the yellow arrows, you can find them painted almost anywhere (besides the cairns), both on roads and in towns; just try to make sure that it is not fraudulent signals that you try to drive without your permission to a private business (an increasingly common problem).
Something similar happens with the scallop shells; Although they are always included in the landmarks, you can also find them in all types of constructions, even on the ground, although they are more common in populations
Traveling the Camino de Santiago, as you know, you will cross different autonomous communities. Some of them add their own signs, such as Navarra with the GR 65 trails (identified with a white band and a red one), but all of them also use the unified signs of the Camino de Santiago that we have described above: the yellow arrows, the markers and the scallop shells.
Following the recognition of the Camino de Santiago as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the signs of the Camino de Santiago have their symbols and colors unified, so that any pilgrim, whether very or very unfamiliar with the Camino de Santiago, Regardless of his experience, he can be guided without problems by the main Jacobean routes.
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