• Get your Camino Frances Guidebook here.
  • For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
  • ⚠️ Emergency contact in Spain - Dial 112 and AlertCops app. More on this here.
This is a mobile optimized page that loads fast, if you want to load the real page, click this text.

Camino Signage - Which Way to Point

Saint Mike II

Veteran Member
Donating Member
Time of past OR future Camino
cycled from Pamplona Sep 2015;Frances, walked from St Jean May/June 2017. Plans to walk Porto 2020
I am just back from completing the Camino Frances and found the signage symbols more than a little confusing. Nearly half the Camino Signs have the "12 arrow" sign pointing one way and the other half have it pointing the opposite direction. Often less than 10 metres appart. I have posted a couple of examples. Anyone have any clues as to why this is so???
 

Attachments

  • 361.JPG
    3.2 MB · Views: 2,386
  • 403.JPG
    1.6 MB · Views: 367
Camino Inglés Walking Holiday - UK
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
I absolutely agree. I am a very literal and IMO totally logical person (maybe too much so). I walked the Frances in 2015 and found when I walked it again in 2017 that the signage was MUCH improved. My understanding is that the goal is to eventualy have all the '12 arrow' signs aligned so that the apex is towards Santiago and the 12 points away from Santiago.
 
Get a Spanish mobil number + data while on the Camino
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Or up a gum tree?!!
Edit: Have realised this joke may be lost in translation. Apologies if this is the case.
 

Attachments

  • AC9A8B57-7003-46D2-BD96-0B3539D21D91.JPG
    3.7 MB · Views: 119
Last edited:
Altus 24 Liters daypack (DENON 24 H30)
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
EXPRESS BOURRICOT - Transport
Transport luggage-passengers.
From airports to SJPP
Luggage from SJPP to Roncevalles
When in doubt, follow the arrow?

The only route where I ever followed the Camino based on how the shell is positioned is the Primitivo. And even then, once crossing from Asturias into Galicia, the direction of the shell to be followed changed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Kathar1na said:
I see now that the designers are Juan Ignacio Macua and Pedro García-Ramos. I believe they are well-known Spanish designers.

Where's the 12th arrow? I count 11 lines, maximum.
Click to expand...
Never had a problem just following the direction of the arrow.
 
Walking Tours of the Camino!
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
I thought this was pointing me to a pulpo restaurant when I first saw it...

I always thought that the lines pointed to Santiago too... as in all paths lead to Santiago. But I was proved wrong recently on the Vezeley when (using this theory) we managed to complete a full 4km circle, walking out of a village on one road, picking up the Vezeley and following the pointers right back to the same village.

 
Promote your Camino Project on the forum
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.

Hola HedaP. - that was my (also) logical assumption (please accept my bolding and italics) I almost formed the opinion that someone was doing it deliberately to stuff me up. Thanks for the support.
Now if we can only stop the buggers removing the brass GPS distance plaques all will be well. Cheers
 
Kathar1na said:
Where's the 12th arrow? I count 11 lines, maximum.
Click to expand...

I agree its eleven - I had a crazy idea that it was a styalised way of depicting the number of Caminos that lead to Santiago, but I have never really counted how many there actually are. Cheers
 
I agree with Mikel. In my experience the seashell is not normally used as an indicator of direction, The presence of the seashell simply indicates that you are on the trail. A yellow arrow, however, indicates a direction. (See photo.) Also, if you're lucky, you may even see one of the very old GR65 signs indicating the Camino. They have all but disappeared but a few remain. See below for a photo of one taken in May, 2017.

 
Discover the Northern Camino!
Join our full-service guided tour of the Basque Country and let us pamper you!
Hi Kanga,
As I'm planning the Vézelay route for this autumn, may I ask where it was?
Buen Camino,
Jacques-D.
 
jdpiguet said:
Hi Kanga,
As I'm planning the Vézelay route for this autumn, may I ask where it was?
Buen Camino,
Jacques-D.
Click to expand...

Jacques - it was in the village of Douzillac but all is not quite as it seems. I live nearby and met friends in the car park beside the church. I'd printed off a map showing how we should leave the village and join the camino (I'd walked here previously and recalled the camino skirting by the village). So we headed off and found the markers... and thinking they were pointing to Santiago we headed off. We did question the direction but carried on regardless. As we walked into 'a' village we all started the think the same thing... hang on... this is the church where we started!

So we turned around and followed the arrows back to where we picked them up and went in the other direction... and low and behold we found markers.

I think for a pilgrim walking the route from Perigueux you will know which direction... but as we were joining it, it confused us.

p.s. it's a beautiful walk

 
Promote your Camino Project on the forum
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
So what about the "myth" that the shell symbol leads eveyone to Santiago with its tendrils reaching out to join all of the paths in one direction towards Santiago; until one reaches Galicia and the shells are reversed for some perverse Galician reason.
 
The Council of Europe's logo is a stylized shell but also a stylized map, with Santiago as the endpoint of the roads. When the logo is used as intended, the endpoint must be always on the left, i.e. West (like in a map). The endpoints of the logo's "roads" lie on a circle:

 
Last edited:
William Garza said:
So a song i sang in childhood means Kookabarra sits up an old eucalyptus tree?
Click to expand...
Yes - it (the song) was the subject of a very long & involved court case - if you have heard the Men At Work song " I come from a land downunder" you might hear part of it. Cheers
 
Camino Ready, Backpacks, Boots etc
3rd Edition. More content, training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
Saint Mike II said:
Yes - it (the song) was the subject of a very long & involved court case - if you have heard the Men At Work song " I come from a land downunder" you might hear part of it. Cheers
Click to expand...
As i read your reply i replayed the song in my head and with a blinding moment of holy cow! No Way!
Thank you for the clarity!
 
I certainly don't claim to be an expert on matters such as this, but that's always been my understanding as well. However, I recall several places on the Camino Portugués--particularly in and around Padrón--where the rays of the shell symbol were rotated to indicate the direction of travel. There typically were no arrows present at those locations.
 
Lol option 4b j/k on the inverno kso.
 
Get a Spanish mobil number + data while on the Camino
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Why is it called a "12 arrow?"
 
Altus ANDES 400 H30 sleeping bag
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
How I found it? Googling something like logotipo concha camino etc.

And while it may have 11 lines, it has 12 points touching the circle. See page 17 of the guide. You have to include the point symbolising Santiago.

The yellow is from the spray painted arrows, but the blue is from the EU's flag. And BTW (Page 19).

As to the 12 stars, the logo used on the European flag and created by the Council of Europe, good old Wiki explains how it came about, what it symbolises, who used it, and who apparently no longer does.

https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandera_europea

Here is another document regarding the use of the shell when it comes to wether or not it is meant to be used to show the direction one should take when walking. This document has a link to,the Brand Book you ask about.

http://www.vialusitana.org/sinaletica/documentos/consejojacobeo.pdf
 
Recent experience in Galicia suggests that whether the shell should indicate the direction of travel or not the Junta have lost their sense of direction. Shells on the new mojones are seemingly arranged at random. Beyond San Roman de Retorta there is a straight stretch of road with somewhat redundant pillars at roughly 250 metre intervals the shells pointing in contradictory directions. The arrows moulded into the concrete provided more useful information.
 

I just finished my Camino del Norte and find that all the marks was changed.
If you notised you could see that all the shells pointed in the same direction On THE MARKSTONE.
But the yelliw arrow pointed in that direction you schould walk.
In the old days - espacially in Galicia it was the shells which pointed -not anymore.
So conclusion - look for the arrows not the shells.
Buen Camino
 
Promote your Camino Project on the forum
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
julio 3 oviedo a santiago ..looking for friends ..busco a amigos 620837894 spain.
 
That one looks like an octopus, no wonder you thought it was pointing to pulpo
 
Last edited:
I was told when I first walked the Camino (in 2001) that the shell points in the direction where all the lines meet. To symbolise that all the roads lead to Santiago. But in practice it was rather random. Obviously not everyone was aware of the symbolism. Since then in Galicia and other places they were placed the other way round, elongating (sometimes) one line to indicate that is the way. I rely on the arrows. The shells are just creative chaos!
 
Lightfoot Guide to via Francigena
Guides that will let you complete the journey your way.
Interestingly, and as far as I can remember (I'll check this September) the shell signs on the Camino Ingles all point towards SdC. It very well signposted.
 
Agreed!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Camino Photo

Most read last week in this forum

Similar threads

C
  • Tags half way
    • Finding the statues that mark the “half way” point near Sahagun
    Replies
    16
    Views
    1K
    happymarkos
  • Tags which camino route?
    • Which Camino to choose if the CF is too crowded?
    Replies
    41
    Views
    6K
    Grateful Gert
    M
  • Tags which camino route?
    • Sarria or Vigo as a starting point
    Replies
    8
    Views
    3K
    Corned Beef
    Menu
    Log in
    Register