Navigation

Having invested heavily in time and money on navigation equipment for my last adventure, I seriously considered GPS and detailed large scale maps. However, determined not to carry more than absolutely necessary, I eventually printed out half a dozen A4 schematic maps of the relevant stages from the internet. They provided a useful indication of where I was with regard to the day's destination and that was really all I needed. All along the route there are yellow arrows, huge placards, glitzy brass signs, stones or other fairly obvious indications showing which fork to take and, even if you are unsure, there is always someone coming along behind you who is confident they know the way; so just go with the flow. This might give the impression that you will be walking in a column of pilgrims and, although you do find clusters at the beginning of the day, everybody has their own pace and you will soon have plenty of space albeit with the security of nearby companions. A fellow traveller took a more philosophical approach: "If it is God's will that I arrive, then I shall. If not then that is a lesson for me". Admittedly he also had a couple of mobile phones to contact his back-up team just in case... One very comforting feature is the regular occurrence of milestones telling you just how much further it is to Santiago; unfortunately, as with all signposting in Spain, they are rather inconsistent and sometimes give the impression of a warp in the time-space continuum.