THE WAY ON THE WAY

How do you know you are on the Camino (aka The WAY)?  There are many maps and guide books and many internet resources.  The guide book I used and many other pilgrims used is titled  A Pilgrim's Guide to the  Camino de Santiago, St Jean - Roncevalles - Santiago, The Way of St. James, The ancient pilgrim path also known as Camino Frances. by John Brierley.

the 1st sign in St Jean

A road sign with the Camino Path on the right

This post appeared every100 meters on this short path

Many communities put them in the center of the sidewalk

This one is on the corner of the barn

Pay attention or you'll miss it

Handy that the bar is right there

This one is right on top of the pylon 

This was easy to miss high up on the corner of the building

muddy run off could cover this

fancy symbols on the bridge

made by pilgrims, THANK YOU!

The Camino goes through the Airport approach

A WET PATH

mind the puddle

down the rabbit hole

Just a smudge of yellow

The last sign everyone looked for in Santiago

The Way is marked with two symbols, one is the scallop shell, a symbol of St. James. The legend says that when they raised his tomb out of the water at one point it was covered in scallop shells ( as in Coquilles St Jacques). Statues of St. James usually portray him with a scallop shell on his hat and often around his neck. And the ridges in the scallop shell are to symbolize that all roads lead to Santiago,   The other symbol, a bold yellow arrow, was developed when the Camino was revitalized in the 1960's. Looking back through my photos, I have easily 75 photos of these various markers along the way. It is possible to walk the way without a guide book.  Like Dorothy following the yellow brick road, simply look for the yellow arrow or scallop shell. Here is a selection including the first and the very last one I looked for and many in between.