Through the Riudebitlles valley

In virtually every visit I've made so far in this series of reports on our freshwater heritage, I've been captivated by the Catalans' ingenuity in harnessing water. My visit to Torrelavit is no exception. "The Riudebitlles is one of the tributaries of the Anoia River, born from the confluence of waters that occurs in La Laguna, which has always been widely used," says Carla Coca, tourism technician for the Penedès Tourism Promotion Consortium and Torrelavit City Council. "If the water level has consistently dropped, no matter how little water it has brought, it has been used to its full potential," emphasizes Daniel González Caldito, director of Anoia Heritage, the company that organizes the tours offered by the Torrelavit Water Interpretation Center.

We walk along a shaded section—what a privilege!—among reeds and trees, along the Camino del Río, at the height of the Riudebitlles (the Camino del Río is a tourist attraction that runs alongside three rivers: the Riudebitlles, the Anoia, and the Lavernó). At the same time, I see a water strider moving happily across the water and a little frog jumping even more happily. There are also toads, salamanders, and some grey herons... a sign of nature's good health.

"In this valley, there are torrents and gullies that have influenced how people have settled and how urban planning has been organized," Daniel points out as we cross the river on a simple wooden footbridge. We cross it several times, the river itself, on very different bridges. One of these bridges, made of iron and brick, was built by none other than Eiffel's workshop (and yet, a few years after it was built, it had to be replaced due to a flood). Near the bridge are the town's washhouses.

Fátima, who is eleven years old and is accompanying me today, builds a small boat from a piece of reed and then places it in the river. It goes down gracefully until it capsizes in some rapids. Carla used to make this simple boat when she was little and quickly taught the girl how to do it. Along the way, we passed three round ("bottom") swings, which hang from sturdy branches and allow one to swing high above the river. Fátima hasn't wasted any of it.

It's been raining for a few days now, but the water flow is rather slow. So in periods of drought, I imagine the river must be shaken. That's why I'm surprised to learn that there were mills here that used water as their driving force. Not one, not two... a dozen! In the Mediona-Riudebitlles valley, where I am now, there was a high concentration of paper mills. There are documented flour mills dating back to the 10th century. Later, some were transformed into fulling mills (they made woolen cloth) or paper mills, although many of them were newly built. This was the case in the 18th and 19th centuries, a time of maximum splendor when the American market, the great consumer of Catalan paper, opened up. The paper they rendered had many uses (more so now, as everything digital has been gaining ground). They made paper for books, for drawing, for packaging, for making posters.s, to make filters, to smoke, pIt's also used to make banknotes... Also used to carry legumes and other foods at retail. It's brown, coarse, thick, kraft paper made from recycled materials, very tear-resistant, also called brown paper. kraft.

"In Capellades they were large paper manufacturers, with their own brand. In Torrelavit, on the other hand, they didn't have such a tight grip on marketing and worked for the big brands," says Daniel. There hasn't been a functioning mill for years. But the buildings constructed to house the mills have a wide variety of uses: logistics warehouse, artistic production space, housing, wine cellar, cardboard processing... Along with agriculture and cava, cardboard processing – heirs to the traditional paper industry – is one of the foundations of the economy here.This municipality in the Penedès region. One of the mills is now a rural accommodation. This is the case of the Molí Blanc, the destination of our tour. "It was initially a rag mill, then a flour mill, and finally, in the 18th century, it was a paper mill," says Núria Sierra of the Molí Blanc.

This mill preserves the millstone, the water wheel, and the pipe that channeled the water to the waterfall to generate electricity. And the old viewing platform, where the paper was spread out to dry. Some of the structures through which the strings used to hang the paper have been preserved. And of course, the numerous small, open windows—without glass—which in the mills are called "windows." A Spanish word? No. It comes from the wind!