We are getting close to the end of the Camino! Today begins with a gentle yet perceptible climb up the Valcarce followed by a much more arduous 700 m ascent through Pedrafita to O Cebreiro and on to the Alto do Poio at 1337 m above sea level - the final major peak of the Camino Francés! We then descend down another vertical kilometre, only to find that we must immediately inch our way across yet another hilly span of roughly 30 km to Portomarín. The total distance is 100 km, less than some of our other days but arguably the hardest yet.
Climbing to O Cebreiro is slow. The hiking trail leads up on dirt paths from Vega de Valcarce, forcing us to take the nearby N-VI up the valley to Pedrafita and then around the back instead. Many parts are steep; we spend a long time crawling forward on lowest gear, every pedal revolution bringing us just slightly closer to the peak. Fortunately, our water holds out during the ascent, and our legs prove strong enough after the last few days to make it in reasonable time. We play leapfrog with a lone girl on unladen mountain bike; she is faster without gear, but we have hard-earned endurance on our side. The minimum distance required to receive a certificate of completion at Santiago de Compostela is 100 km by foot or 200 km by bike; as we discover, many hikers take advantage of this by starting in Portomarín - after the mountains - whereas cyclists following the Camino Francés must at least make their way over Alto do Poio. Nevertheless, the cyclists that start so close from the end need relatively little gear, and are almost invariably less tired than those who wear their long journeys on their sweat-stained sleeves.
For this reason, the nature of the Camino has changed abruptly; there is a booming industry in camino tourism in these parts, offering such amenities as baggage shipment along particularly difficult sections and tourist albergues and the like. The municipal albergue in Portomarín is full, so we find sleeping quarters in the only other albergue in town; it is packed with shouting and cheering "poser pilgrims", who have clearly arrived here to walk the easy last section. They carry no gear, drink and blast music until quiet hours, and congregate in large groups. They do not reflect upon their journey, are not tested by it; for them, it is a short vacation, albeit in a somewhat novel form. They leave garbage strewn across the albergue, shattered bottles on the benches outside. We start seeing car signs for vehicles wishing to follow the Camino - as though it were something you could merely stay along or visit. We all agree: this cheapens the trials of those who come from far away, who are here to make real pilgrimages whether for religious or spiritual or even merely athletic reasons. For this latter group, it is something special; for the others who merely visit or saunter blissfully through this last section, it is just another walk.
We make a delicious blue cheese and cream sauce for dinner off the stove, moving a bit away from the albergue for even the slightest hope of peace; some travellers have set up tents in the park. Only one day remains to Santiago and the end of the Camino. It is so close!