Top 20 Natural Monuments around Martorell

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to relax and enjoy

Currently, the only living stream left in the Collserola range is the Vallvidrera stream, also known as "la Rierada", it is a tributary on the left bank of the Llobregat river and the only permanent watercourse in the Collserola Park.

Peak of 341 m. altitude, located between the municipalities of Papiol and Sant Cugat del Vallès, in the Collserola mountain range. At the highest part there is a 16 meter high fire watch tower, and at its foot there is the Hermitage of Health and the geodesic vertex 286123001. It is also known of the existence of a Iberian town on top of the hill. The place is a splendid viewpoint of the Baix Llobregat, the ridge of Collserola, the mountains of Montserrat, Sant Llorenç del Munt and Vallès beyond to Montseny. The importance of this natural space is evidenced in recent studies, such as the one that indicates the presence of interesting lichens. In particular, it is important, due to its uniqueness, the first appointment for Catalonia, in terms of cryptogamic flora, of the species "Porina byssophila". This was detected in the lichen surveys in the Escletxes de Papiol and Puigmadrona, and 38 saxicolous and terrestrial lichens have been catalogued, of which 32 are new taxa for the flora of the Collserola Park, such as the one mentioned (Bolea, et al .: 2010: 354). It is the highest point that dominates the entire municipality. This peak is included in the list of the 100 peaks of the FEEC. https://www.feec.cat/activitats/100-cims/cim/puig-madrona/

The Vallvidrera creek basin, due to its proximity to Barcelona, is a basin that lives under strong anthropogenic pressure. The different urbanizations of the Plains, the Floresta and the Rierada, the tunnels of Vallvidrera, the protection of the Park, the use of leisure... are conditions that denote an aspect specific to this stream. The current source of the stream is inside a large pipe that was built parallel to the construction of the Vallvidrera tunnels. Thus, with an unknown origin, the first tributary is found: the Les Plaines treatment plant. The low chemical quality of these first meters will irreversibly mark the ecological state of the entire stream, which will improve to an acceptable quality. This improvement, however, will not happen until you reach the Can Busquets area where a riparian forest enables self-purification with the absorption of nutrients, the contribution of primary production and the creation of fluvial habitat for the development of fauna. Once the stream reduces the initial organic pollution load, a structured food web appears with fluvial species of large predators such as the red-tailed barbel, the water snake or amphibians such as the frog, toad or salamander. Despite this new stability, new factors prevent the correct recovery of the ecosystem. On the one hand, the diffuse pollution that comes from the small urban centers that it passes through, which, despite having a low incidence, is aggravated in times of drought. The drought, however, is the last major problem of the stream since, despite being a temporary river, human extractions have a strong impact reducing its flow to 0. The passage through agricultural areas reduces the quality of the riparian forest, despite the fact that, in central areas of the park, it enjoys protection. The figure of the Collserola park is important for the development of this forest typology and its connectivity with the adjacent forest. This fact significantly improves, as already mentioned, the ecological quality of the stream. Finally, the stream reaches its final section, in its alluvial plain where an industrial estate awaits it that will dump its waste water and exterminate the entire riparian forest. The ecological improvement that the stream has achieved after an origin in a sewage treatment plant, is destroyed a few hundred meters before it is lost in the waters beyond the Llobregat

Exuberant and shady corner where we will definitely forget that we are close to Barcelona. We are in one of those spaces that alone justify a trip. The stream forms a small jump thanks to an artificial lock built in the s. XIX that brought water from the stream through a pipe, which we can still see on one side of the jump, to the Can Planes mill. We can go down to the small pond that forms the caient, where, in the summer, the little ones can still take a bath. El Salt is surrounded by lush and shady vegetation, with bananas, oaks and oaks that bring freshness in the summer. It is one of the most crowded places in Collserola due to its proximity and ease of access.

Waterfall from the Collserola stream.

The Vallvidrera stream accompanies you from its beginning in the reservoir, to its end in the Llobregat river.