This is what we look for all day long. The track at times is nonexistent so finding the white stripe over red stripe becomes a game. It can be painted on a tree, a boulder, a stone on the ground, a building, a sign, anywhere. Luckily with 3 pairs of eyes it is a little easier; many times the first two would walk right past a turnoff in the trail but then the last guy just spots the worn and hidden mark showing a turn in the track. You have to be careful, sometimes the trail has been moved because maybe a private owner objects to the GR 11 crossing his land, so then the trick is to try and differenciate between the old marks and the new marks. Get it wrong (and we did quite a few times) and it can mean adding up to another 5Km to your day's walk.
Mark top left means go straight on; top middle: change of direction; top right: wrong way. The bottom marks are what you see on stakes or signs; in this case these are for the GR65.3. Oh, and that is another thing; there are many "GR's" (Gran Recorrido or Great Route) and they are all marked with the white stripe over red stripe so there is another way to get yourself on the wrong track. We managed to cross over the wrong pass and ended up in a french village at one point when we should have been 20 kilometres to the south in Spain!
