Two nights ago when walking in the dark I was grateful for modern technology and an application recommended to me that shows your position and the route of the Camino. It has proved a useful tool at other times too; route finding has been a mixed bag in the last few weeks especially from Cadiz to Seville. Yellow arrows are the recognised symbol pointing you in the right direction for the Camino but they can be hard to find, even during the day. They are hand painted, often old and faded and not always obviously placed: sometimes they are low down on the kerb, sometimes they are high on a wall, sometimes on the back of a road sign or the top or side of a crash barrier. Often you get to a junction and stand looking lost while seeking an arrow that may be there and not obvious or may not be there at all. Sometimes you may only see them once you have already made progress down the right road because of their location. It can be very frustrating, especially in towns. A big thank you then to the tiny village of Los Santos de Maimona with their stencilled arrows, two feet long, down the middle of their roads.
Instead of arrows there are often stickers of various sorts so that as well as not knowing where to look, you do not necessarily know what you are looking for. However, in the countryside, grey stone markers usually act as your guide and it is only once or twice that these have been used to regularly mark a route that you can not deviate from while being noticeably absent the moment you come to a junction of tracks.
Sometimes different regions and towns seem to want to stamp their own personal style on route marking and I have seen ceramic tiles on walls and even mosaics set in roads but all are variations on the yellow arrow or the scallop shell, symbol of the Camino.
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