Watching for signs and letting them guide you through life is a wonderful and trustworthy practice. In life, I am guided by daysigns, dreams, and intuitive flashes. On the camino, a network of yellow arrows, or waymarks, guide you to Santiago, and those arrows can be found in delightfully far away places. We will follow them from Paris to Chartres, though they won’t be as plentiful as they are in Spain. To me, it is a treasure hunt, and I will admit to experiencing a frisson when I find one, unexpected or not. Usually they look something like this:

My training has been continuing, and I’m really enjoying my morning walks. I never want to go out – I hate getting hot and sweaty that early in the day, but I love the feeling of my muscles stetching and smoothing with the rhythm of my steps, and my spirits always lift. I’ve listened to some wonderful podcasts during those morning walks, but I’ve also had plenty of time to just think and notice what’s happening in our neighbourhood. I can tell we are moving towards autumn now, and I enjoy feeling in touch with the season. But despite enjoying my walks, I wonder if I am doing the right thing by embarking on another walking pilgrimage. Will I be able to keep up? Carry my pack? Stay the course? I wanted a sign of some sort, anything at all, to tell me I’m on the right path for me.

And then, amongst other fallen leaves, I saw this:

Can you see it? The needles are pointing the way, an arrow of sorts, a sign that my imagination can recognise. Keep going! Ultreia!