Sticker Mania?

[Elle Bieling]

I am not a fan of the Camino Francés, I have never walked it and most probabaly never will. (Please don't discuss the pros/cons of this route on this thread). However, despite my strong opinions about the route, I chose to walk from Melide to SdC on the Francés (yes - I know about the Camino Verde from Lugo), in order to complete the Camino Primitivo, about a week ago. While I had walked this section before, I was very surprised at a phenomenon that is new - at least to me. Stickers!! I have not seen this on any other Caminos I have walked. Is this phenomenon only on the final 100 km of the Camino Francés or is this on the rest of the route? Is it on other Caminos? The stickers cropped up in so many places after Melide, even obscurring the name of the town "Salceda," in the second photo, and a stop sign also obscurred in the 3rd photo. The worst, in my opinion was the stickers on the Santiago city sign, in the last photo.

I saw stickers from Taiwan (!), tour agencies, Camino-related stickers, restaurants, etc, and some that made no sense to me whatsoever. Is this some new fad or what is the purpose of this? Do you believe this is a wonderful way to leave your mark on the Camino, or is it yet another form of Camino pollution?

 

[Tincatinker]

It’s pollution. It’s no different to the local foxes that leave their scat on my patios and steps “I was here and it’s mine”.

“I looked up from my‘phone and there wasn’t any noise so I made some.”

And no it’s not just the Francés, though that’s where you’ll find the highest density. On the Cuckmere Pilgrim Path last month every marker had a sticker “Polly and Pete [date] ”. Unfortunately no contact details because I would really have liked the opportunity to meet “Polly and Pete” and to have had the opportunity to shake them warmly by the throat…

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Elle, this is absolutely nuts! I haven't walked that stretch for quite a few years, but have never seen such a thing and no idea where people are getting access to so many different stickers. The only positive thing I can think of is that apparently they are not on the mojones...yet!

2015 and then 2017.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

I've seen a few taxi stickers and unbelievably a few with QR codes advertising a very popular camino YouTuber (who should know better) on the Primitivo, but nothing like the quantity you're showing.

Just like graffiti, I think of it as vandalism.
Truly horrible.

 

[trecile]

The worst, in my opinion was the stickers on the Santiago city sign, in the last photo.

I like the stickers on the Santiago sign. It makes the sign much more interesting than how it originally was, and to me symbolizes all those who have walked this path before me.

I have seen stickers on all of the Caminos that I've walked, but of course there are a lot more on the Sarria to Santiago stretch of the Francés because of the sheer numbers of pilgrims on this section.

I saw quite a few of these stickers on the Camino Portuguese south of Porto. This photo was taken near Azinhaga.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

We took our kids to Wall Drugs on our way to Mt. Rushmore many years ago. That sticker is totally misplaced.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

I like the stickers on the Santiago sign. It makes the sign much more interesting than how it originally was, and to me symbolizes all those who have walked this path before me.

I have seen stickers on all of the Caminos that I've walked, but of course there are a lot more on the Sarria to Santiago stretch of the Francés because of the sheer numbers of pilgrims on this section.

I saw quite a few of these stickers on the Camino Portuguese south of Porto. This photo was taken near Azinhaga.

View attachment 179695

I also like them on the entry sign into SdC... and I have a fridge magnet from SdC that embraces the stickers...
I do think they are dangerous on road signs and I just don't know what people are thinking when they seek to obscure a village sign, speed limit sign, etc etc.
I do like street art, and I don't object to the graffiti in bridge tunnels -- some of it, long ago, was my first entry into the complex politics of "Spain" (and that it wasn't *just* a Basque thing or a Catalan thing). I *like* being brought into confrontation with my own ignorance at street level that way...
But some of this does amount to cluttering up information that it important; it also strikes me as rather ironic that in a world in which people are constantly worried about waste, and excess... that people will engage in the wasteful excess of sticker manufacture and sticker use... It is so *without reasonable purpose*... I am stymied...

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I only remember seeing one sticker on my 2019 Camino Catalan but I saw it in many albergues slapped onto walls and refrigerators. I only looked it up now. I was surprised finding that it was advertising the book that @Rebekah Scott translated into English.

F

Thread 'El Gran Caminante /The Great Westward Walk'

Sep 6, 2017

If this is not in the correct section, let it be re-routed.

www.feadulta.com/es/buscadoravanzado/item/2024-antxon-el-gran-caminante.html
The above is a link to a review in Spanish of the book which has been translated by Rebekah. I am going to get both of them, as I would love to read the original, but I am also keen to see how Rebekah has dealt with the translation. I know a very little about translating and appreciate that it is a talent, a skill honed by a search for the translation of the meaning, not always the words. Rebekah's account of being persuaded to translate the book...

• Former member 49149
• Replies: 19
• Camino de Santiago Forum: 📚 Books about the Camino

• 

 

[woody66]

For me they are the same as covid masks, boots hanging in trees, burning clothes and any other nonsense! Leaving your mark only satisfies you;;;no one else cares it's another form of toilet paper.
You wouldn't want it in your street outside your home so why is it OK to do it in someone else's backyard.
Don't condone it!

 

[J Willhaus]

I didn't really notice that many stickers last year in June 2024 or again in January 2025. There were some of course, but not as excessive as the photos you posted. I guess I didn't pay attention to the Santiago sign and thought it was just supposed to be variegated. I thought it was supposed to look like that. The graffiti I remember was more with sharpie markers. The stickers I remember were mostly about taxis.

There was a news article last year I think from Santiago warning people not to follow the QR codes due to downloading some software or something.

 

[Elle Bieling]

Elle, this is absolutely nuts! I haven't walked that stretch for quite a few years, but have never seen such a thing and no idea where people are getting access to so many different stickers. The only positive thing I can think of is that apparently they are not on the mojones...yet!

2015 and then 2017.
View attachment 179692View attachment 179693

This change from then to my photo is quite dramatic!

 

[Anamiri]

I am not a fan of the Camino Francés, I have never walked it and most probabaly never will. (Please don't discuss the pros/cons of this route on this thread). However, despite my strong opinions about the route, I chose to walk from Melide to SdC on the Francés (yes - I know about the Camino Verde from Lugo), in order to complete the Camino Primitivo, about a week ago. While I had walked this section before, I was very surprised at a phenomenon that is new - at least to me. Stickers!! I have not seen this on any other Caminos I have walked. Is this phenomenon only on the final 100 km of the Camino Francés or is this on the rest of the route? Is it on other Caminos? The stickers cropped up in so many places after Melide, even obscurring the name of the town "Salceda," in the second photo, and a stop sign also obscurred in the 3rd photo. The worst, in my opinion was the stickers on the Santiago city sign, in the last photo.

I saw stickers from Taiwan (!), tour agencies, Camino-related stickers, restaurants, etc, and some that made no sense to me whatsoever. Is this some new fad or what is the purpose of this? Do you believe this is a wonderful way to leave your mark on the Camino, or is it yet another form of Camino pollution?


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I have a photo of that same bridge covered in stickers from May this year , I'm sure there weren't stickers on it the last time I walked.
The Santiago sign though has looked like trash every time I've passed it. much worse than your recent photo. It usually has stuff hanging off all over it to the point its barely readable. Must be like the Cruz de Ferro, they clean it up but it builds up again.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

This change from then to my photo is quite dramatic!

Yes, it is, and possibly your photo even has layers and layers of stickers built up.

 

[bestfootforward]

Like @trecile, I think the Santaigo sign looks a bit more 'lively' without compromising it. But the abundance of it elsewhere is just unsightly grafitti, just not via a spray can. And well, defacing vital signs like road/directional signs is not only unsightly but dangerous. It's every level of wrong.com

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

No to stickers; yes to googly eyes.

 

[ShoshTrvls]

For me they are the same as covid masks, boots hanging in trees, burning clothes and any other nonsense! Leaving your mark only satisfies you;;;no one else cares it's another form of toilet paper.
You wouldn't want it in your street outside your home so why is it OK to do it in someone else's backyard.
Don't condone it!

There are stickers on a telephone pole in front of my house and I love it. They change all the time, many are political, some are advertising, most are humorous. I agree that stickers shouldn’t obscure safety or directional signs, but I’m a street art fan and don’t mind them on “the street outside [my] home.”

 

[Bothydave]

It is all over Italian routes as well. This year on the VDD any barriers and some street signs were covered in them. So many that any actual information such as taxi numbers is lost in the morass.
We met 2 Italian guys and a few hundred meters further found a sticker, clearly with pictures and avatars of them just freshly on a barrier.
As someone said hardly minimalist and litter conscious.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

We met 2 Italian guys and a few hundred meters further found a sticker, clearly with pictures and avatars of them just freshly on a barrier.
As someone said hardly minimalist and litter conscious.

Interestingly, one of my sons and his wife are in Italy right now after spending two months in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He said the trash he is seeing in Italy on beaches and even in high tourist areas is appalling, and completely opposite to those other countries.
It is sad to hear this is escalating as I love Italy.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I'm reminded of a graffitied red wall I saw on my first camino. Someone found a loophole in the "Post no bills" directive.

 

[Bothydave]

I do a lot of work with the Mountain Bothies Association in Scotland.
We have discovered that the ‘festival mentality’ of I will just abandon my cheap tent/ clothing, sleeping bag etc. and someone else will magically appear and pick it up along with the decaying food that I thought I would leave, along with the tin of gas with enough puff to half heat a kettle of water or my food wrappers. We have allowed this to happen in society.
Alas it has now percolated into the great outdoors too.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Alas it has now percolated into the great outdoors too.

In the US, we have a well known hiking slogan, "pack it in, pack it out" for quite a few years. Not sure if it is helping or not, but I hope it has drawn attention to the problem and making people aware.

 

[Felice]

I thought this was fairly excessive this summer.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Presumably, like the debris that piles up at the cruz de ferro, a few moments of hard work every so often will bring the signs back to their original state?
The ephemeral vandalism annoys me but the more permanent - think spray painting rock faces, carving initials on the Colosseum - appals.
I have a boxful of stickers left over from a now defunct ukulele club, I wonder if the Sticker Movement of the Camino would mind me plastering the windows of their dwellings?

 

[KYBirdman]

In 2018 I came upon a man with a permanent marker drawing on the signpost and the bench area. I asked him why and he said he liked it. I then told him I thought it was wrong to deface areas that so many people enjoy. I wanted so badly to tell him that I would happily go to his home and draw on his walls. In my mind, there is no reason for the graffiti or stickers.

 

[Dov of the Galilee]

I noticed stickers too,some were interesting others made no sense to the uninitiated . What really got me was the graffiti on the CF. Much of it in English, stupid things such as 'It's only walking Ryan'. If I saw the person doing that I'd Crack them a good one with my stick. Who carry with them a giant marker to do that?A person who has forethought to vandalize before even embarking on the walk, such people should not be on the Camino at all.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Presumably, like the debris that piles up at the cruz de ferro, a few moments of hard work every so often will bring the signs back to their original state?

I think this new sticker vandalism would take more than a few moments, Jeff. It would need some strong arms, and a whole lot of elbow grease. Volunteers could be called "Sticker pigs", and they would need to use one of these...

 

[BrooksBe]

Stickers appear to be a worldwide phenomenon. This was taken in Namibia last month.

 

[Helen2006]

I am not a fan of the Camino Francés, I have never walked it and most probabaly never will. (Please don't discuss the pros/cons of this route on this thread). However, despite my strong opinions about the route, I chose to walk from Melide to SdC on the Francés (yes - I know about the Camino Verde from Lugo), in order to complete the Camino Primitivo, about a week ago. While I had walked this section before, I was very surprised at a phenomenon that is new - at least to me. Stickers!! I have not seen this on any other Caminos I have walked. Is this phenomenon only on the final 100 km of the Camino Francés or is this on the rest of the route? Is it on other Caminos? The stickers cropped up in so many places after Melide, even obscurring the name of the town "Salceda," in the second photo, and a stop sign also obscurred in the 3rd photo. The worst, in my opinion was the stickers on the Santiago city sign, in the last photo.

I saw stickers from Taiwan (!), tour agencies, Camino-related stickers, restaurants, etc, and some that made no sense to me whatsoever. Is this some new fad or what is the purpose of this? Do you believe this is a wonderful way to leave your mark on the Camino, or is it yet another form of Camino pollution?


View attachment 179688 View attachment 179689 View attachment 179690 View attachment 179691

I am not a fan of the Camino Francés, I have never walked it and most probabaly never will. (Please don't discuss the pros/cons of this route on this thread). However, despite my strong opinions about the route, I chose to walk from Melide to SdC on the Francés (yes - I know about the Camino Verde from Lugo), in order to complete the Camino Primitivo, about a week ago. While I had walked this section before, I was very surprised at a phenomenon that is new - at least to me. Stickers!! I have not seen this on any other Caminos I have walked. Is this phenomenon only on the final 100 km of the Camino Francés or is this on the rest of the route? Is it on other Caminos? The stickers cropped up in so many places after Melide, even obscurring the name of the town "Salceda," in the second photo, and a stop sign also obscurred in the 3rd photo. The worst, in my opinion was the stickers on the Santiago city sign, in the last photo.

I saw stickers from Taiwan (!), tour agencies, Camino-related stickers, restaurants, etc, and some that made no sense to me whatsoever. Is this some new fad or what is the purpose of this? Do you believe this is a wonderful way to leave your mark on the Camino, or is it yet another form of Camino pollution?


View attachment 179688 View attachment 179689 View attachment 179690 View attachment 179691

In my personal view the stickers are a very great pity. They spoil the appearance of the things they deface, and, as you point out, they obliterate signs. It seems to me to be selfish behaviour to plaster the route with stickers. I guess that some people just like to leave their mark; ‘I was here’. I prefer to leave only my footprints. I presume that, from time to time, some poor person has to go out and attempt to clean the stickers off…