Route through the vineyard Vinyals

From the town hall of Bordils take Almeda street and the Aimeric walk to get to the old town where you can visit the spectacular church of San Esteban. You will have to follow by the street of the Cross only about 50 meters and turn to the right by the road of the Pla, although you can also visit a municipal laundry of 1932 that is located a little further down the street of the Cross.

Returning to the route, follow the path of the Pla to the bridge of Cal Peix and the stream of Sant Martí Vell, where the canal ends. Follow the stream to the south, towards the Gavarres, to border the most Riera, which will be on the right in the middle of the fields. Once turned around you will find the Can Riera lock and the Vinyals drain. In this section you can also see some of the monumental trees of Bordils.

As a historical note, in 1748 and 1750, Real Patrimonio granted to the hacendado Mateu de Vinyals de Flaçà two concessions for the use of the waters of the Ter, as well as the construction of two mills, one in Campdorà and the other in Bordils.

The Acequia Vinyals is an example of the development of Catalan agriculture of the eighteenth century, allowed it to irrigate lands that had not been used until then, and on a much larger scale. The sluice built at the height of Campdorà diverts the water from the Ter by a master irrigation that passes below the railway line and the road to Palamós. It is said that at the time of cleaning the ditch, when water was not being passed, M. de Vinyals was walking inside on a horse. After surpassing the Congost the irrigation circulates already to open sky by all its route.

Modern society, more industrial than peasantry, left much of the traditional irrigated crops (vegetables, alfalfa and maize), with little profitability, but thanks to the ditch it has been possible to reconvert and modernize the agricultural sector with the extension of nurseries of Ornamental plants, especially woodland, that today make up a landscape of its own in this area of ​​the Ter. The ditch is filled with small bridges and walkways, hydraulic engineering elements, or larger infrastructures such as the Bordils mill, while passing through the most human landscapes of the area, from the agrarian environment of the irrigation ditch, the industrial estate, And the towns of Celrà and Bordils.

Returning to the route, from now on it will only be necessary to follow the ditch and enjoy the different landscapes. It crosses Bordils from side to side, where it is necessary to emphasize a pair of interesting elements like the municipal laundry of the street Almeda, of principles of the s. XX, which is a little hidden at the height of the school of Bordils, a little below the level of the street. Laundryers were an important space for socialization before the arrival of electricity, running water and washing machines, especially for women who had to take charge of this type of tasks. From here come expressions like " fer safareig " to refer to gossip.

Continuing along the side of the ditch, you come to the mill of Bordils, currently in rehabilitation, where you can observe the mechanisms of the lock that distributed the water. Once the mill has passed, you will have to turn around again a couple of houses going back to the Gavarres and take the Celrà industrial estate, and go up again to find the irrigation canal, which can continue along the polygon. In addition to small footbridges and bridges such as Aumet or Lucas, in this section the most interesting element to see is the air raid shelter, which is located on the other side of the bridge of the Aviation, old building of the republican airfield to be Extended to the present fields of ornamental tree cultivation and that occupied about 126 hectares between 1937 and 1939. Once crossed the polygon you can follow the directions to arrive at the factory Pagans de Celrà, great modernist industrial complex that currently houses a bar- Restaurant, a museum space for the Interpretation Center of the Republican Field of Aviation and various municipal services, such as the library, civic center or music school.

This route is not circular, so the return to Bordils can be done by train, or if you feel like walking or cycling, you can also follow the Route of Ter.

History of Acequia Vinyals

The Acequia Vinyals has its origins in the concessions granted by Real Patrimonio in Mateo Viñals de Flaçà for the use of the waters of the River Ter. The first, dated May 21, 1748, allowed industrial uses and own irrigation, and the second, on April 15, 1750, irrigation of other lands.

These concessions were always kept within the patrimony of the Viñals de Flaçà family. At the moment, this exploitation belongs to the Community of Irantes of acequia Vinyals, that acquired it to Jose Luis Viñals and Gomes and Irene Gomes and Barbosa, 20 of August of 1981.

The Vinyals drain is an authentic masterpiece of engineering, considering the time when it was built. It involves the hydraulic exploitation of public waters of the Ter river in Campdorà, with diversion taking, main channel, secondary canals or master irrigation, derivations with its factory works, gates, pipes, elevation groups and others accessories.

The irrigation area of ​​the Vinyals drainage system consists of approximately 804 hectares, of which 224 are irrigated to Celrà, 305 hectares in Bordils, 90 hectares in Sant Joan de Mollet, 75 hectares in Flaçà and 110 hectares in Juià. Thanks to the irrigation channel, this irrigated area is a plain full of life, with extensions of fruit trees, cereals, orchards, poplars, bananas and nurseries of garden plants and ornamentation recognized internationally.

One of the most important episodes in the history of the Vinyals ditch came in the aftermath of the civil war, in 1937, to make the Celrà airfield, it was steel to cover all the master irrigations that were in the area located in the Limit of the municipal terms of Celrà and Bordils, with machines and animals they covered all the irrigations masters that there were in the zone, they paved the ground and soon we sowed alfalfa in them. In 1940, once the war was over, they rebuilt irrigation and the plots of the sector, to redo the irrigation ditches and distribute the ends among their owners, were based on the existing plans and the signs of irrigation that were still visible.