The river road in the Alt Penedès

Sant Sadurní d'Anoia offers a wide range of activities for the whole family, routes and places to visit, in an environment of vineyards and cellars that will make your stay a great experience for the senses.

We propose an itinerary through the river areas of the Mediona-Bitlles, Lavernó and Anoia rivers that are part of the most relevant river ecosystems in the Alt Penedès region .

The river road is an itinerary of 43 kilometers to discover and enjoy these river spaces, the great diversity of environments they offer and the landscapes of great attraction and beauty of the Alt Penedès. The villages where the route passes are Subirats, Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Torrelavit, Sant Pere de Riudebitlles, Sant Quintí de Mediona and Mediona.

This walk allows you to enjoy a fantastic view, a landscape mosaic formed by population centers, vineyards and other fields, forests and also the riverbank and river area. The fact of including the river area as a characteristic and significant element of this itinerary is what distinguishes this route from the others already existing in the municipality.

The route includes two parts, joined by a link section that runs through Sant Sadurní. The southern section corresponds to one of the ends of the river road and passes through rural roads already consolidated and quite simple. The northern section, on the other hand, presents a somewhat higher difficulty. Both, however, are of great natural and landscape interest.

Due to the characteristics of the municipality, Sant Sadurní becomes the connecting axis and the starting point of the itinerary. Throughout the tour of the municipality, we can enjoy interesting natural and architectural elements, a clear sample of this land of vineyards with ancient roots.

Among others, it is worth mentioning: the farmhouse of Can Mas de la Riera (18th century); the coral reef El Serralet, 16 million years old; the modernist buildings of the Codorniu cellars; the lake and the monumental oak of Can Codorniu, owned by Raventós and Blanch, and Colonia Pons, Can Romeu, Monistrol and Can Catassús, unique enclaves near the river.

On the other hand, the itinerary as it passes through Torrelavit presents three different areas: first, we can see the use of water for the gardens, thanks to the channels that are born from the different locks. Secondly, we can walk along the path that runs along the riverbed, where we find a wide riverbank vegetation, several paper mills in good condition and, passing through the town center, several parks where you can enjoy the river.

And thirdly, we can leave the river and enter an agricultural habitat, strolling through a vineyard crop in harmony with the pine forests, where we will enjoy a magnificent view of Puigcúgul.

In the municipality of Sant Pere de Riudebitlles, the route follows the river's path against the current. It starts at the bridge of the Barrio de La Otra Banda and passes through the source of the Quadres, the park of the Plátans de Soler, the sluice of the Huertas canal and the Valls factory, until reaching the Bullidor piélago and the torrent of Barquies Along the itinerary we will find different channels, fountains and locks of great fauna and plant richness.

The walk along the river is one of the most pleasant experiences that can be done in Sant Quintí de Mediona because it allows visitors to enjoy a fantastic natural environment that has been transformed over the years thanks to human action.

It is possible to go through an old industrial colony that has managed to transform the environment in a very beautiful way, or discover the lakes, fountains and caves of the Deus, a natural wonder created by water erosion.

The road crosses three quite different systems in its journey through the municipality of Mediona: the plains of Sant Joan, the gorge of Mediona and the plains of Santa Anna, can Sala and la Marquesa.

To highlight the gorge of Mediona, a place where over the years the stream made its way through the Prelitoral mountain range and formed a picturesque landscape of cliffs and peaks. Following the stream, the royal road was consolidated, which, with little slope, allowed animals and cars to access the lower pages. When leaving the gorge, the stream is tamed, it forms meanders in some pages very rich in groundwater and where the emergence of the aquifer called "Carme-Capellades" occurs .

Source: Sant Sadurní d'Anoia Town Hall