Yellow signs on the Camino

[Gadflyparexcellence]

I know that Elías Valiña Sampedro pioneered the use of yellow arrow signs on Camino Francis beginning in St. Jean. Have the yellow arrow signs been adopted on all other routes (including Camino Portuguese) to Santiago too?

 

[Scott...O]

At least unofficially (seen a couple of days north of Lisbon)...

 

[scruffy1]

Greetings from Jerusalem! At the head of an offshoot of the Israel Trail leading down from Jerusalem towards Ben Gurion airport there is usually a yellow arrow pointing the right direction. Ah...well...that is...someone restores and brightens the arrow every July 25.

 

[Kiwi-family]

*especially* on the Portuguese! And every other route I've had the pleasure of walking so far (VdlP, Madrid, Baztan, San Salvador, Primitivo, Fisterra)
Some really go overboard

 

[Hurry Krishna]

Does yellow have any special significance? Of was the colour chosen for entirely practical reasons??

 

[Gadflyparexcellence]

At least unofficially (seen a couple of days north of Lisbon)...

View attachment 49586

Thanks

*especially* on the Portuguese! And every other route I've had the pleasure of walking so far (VdlP, Madrid, Baztan, San Salvador, Primitivo, Fisterra)
Some really go overboardView attachment 49587

Thanks for the confirmation

 

[pelerine]

I heard /read that D. Elias used the yellow paint because there was a lot left over after road works when he started marking the camino....

Does yellow have any special significance? Of was the colour chosen for entirely practical reasons??

 

[tpmchugh]

Does yellow have any special significance? Of was the colour chosen for entirely practical reasons??

I believe he got it from some road workers and yellow seems to be a universal colour for road works. I often find myself following yellow arrows at home which are nothing more than workers pointing the direction of a trench to be dug

 

[Darby67]

I often find myself following yellow arrows at home which are nothing more than workers pointing the direction of a trench to be dug

This made me LOL

 

[David Tallan]

I often find myself following yellow arrows at home which are nothing more than workers pointing the direction of a trench to be dug

I remember chatting with a fellow pilgrim on the Camino Portugues earlier this autumn and he was telling me how "Camino-obsessed" his girlfriend is. I suggested that, since she was missing the camino so much, when he got home he could paint some yellow arrows in his apartment... leading to the bedroom. ;-)

 

[Anniesantiago]

I've seen blue on the route from Fatima years ago and also going "backwards" on the Frances.

 

[Kiwi-family]

I've seen blue on the route from Fatima years ago and also going "backwards" on the Frances.

I thought blue was going TO Fatima?

 

[Anniesantiago]

I thought blue was going TO Fatima?

Not sure, I've never walked it. Just saying I saw blue arrows at Fatima.

 

[Bradypus]

I saw this one on a roadside barrier on the Shikoku pilgrim circuit earlier this year. About 10,000 km from Santiago. The colour may have been entirely coincidental but it did make me smile and stop long enough to take the photo

 

[jmcarp]

I've seen blue on the route from Fatima years ago and also going "backwards" on the Frances.

The blue Fatima arrows are quite common on the Camino Portuguese as the route is shared for much of the way. Sometimes the arrows are side-by-side, as in these two examples:

 

[trecile]

I often find myself following yellow arrows at home which are nothing more than workers pointing the direction of a trench to be dug

This one made me nostalgic for the Camino.

 

[David Tallan]

I thought blue was going TO Fatima?

Certainly, in Portugal blue arrows point to Fatima and many are labelled as such. I would see them pointing south when I walked north from Porto, often paired with yellow arrows pointing north but not always. When I got to Spain they didn't disappear but they were less frequent. I wonder if you see them alongside the yellow arrows pointing in the same direction on those caminos in the south of Portugal heading up from the Algarve.

 

[nycwalking]

I remember chatting with a fellow pilgrim on the Camino Portugues earlier this autumn and he was telling me how "Camino-obsessed" his girlfriend is. I suggested that, since she was missing the camino so much, when he got home he could paint some yellow arrows in his apartment... leading to the bedroom. ;-)

That could be why she’s obsessed with the camino.

 

[kdespot]

Oh, how true... especially upon recent re-entry from a Camino! I found myself suffering whiplash and heart palpitations from seeing a casual swath of yellow alongside the road. One would think that there would be therapists for this...

 

[Scott...O]

My apologies for drifting back to the topic... ;-)
This photo looks like it shows what you’re looking for (in Alvorge)

 

[Kanga]

Certainly, in Portugal blue arrows point to Fatima and many are labelled as such. I would see them pointing south when I walked north from Porto, often paired with yellow arrows pointing north but not always. When I got to Spain they didn't disappear but they were less frequent. I wonder if you see them alongside the yellow arrows pointing in the same direction on those caminos in the south of Portugal heading up from the Algarve.

Yes, when you walk from Lisbon until the two paths diverge in Santarém, the blue and the yellow arrows share the path and point in the same direction.

 

[JabbaPapa]

The colouring of the arrows used to point to Rome has been fairly unstable, so that yellow, blue, red, and white have all been used -- but I believe that the tendency nowadays is to use yellow towards Santiago and white towards Rome, including because those are the traditional colours of the Standard of Vatican City State.

...

But I've seen from the interwebs that on the Francigena in France, a similar system can be found where the yellow arrows point to Rome, and the white ones to Canterbury ...

 

[Hurry Krishna]

I heard /read that D. Elias used the yellow paint because there was a lot left over after road works when he started marking the camino....

 

[David Tallan]

Yes, when you walk from Lisbon until the two paths diverge in Santarém, the blue and the yellow arrows share the path and point in the same direction.

Looking back at some photos I took in Sintra after my camino before my flight home from Lisbon, what did I see in the background of one but two arrows, yellow and blue, pointing in the same direction. I can't believe I didn't notice the yellow arrow when I was there! Usually my eye is drawn to them as if by magnets.