The river that kept Borredà working for four centuries
Today the Mergançol is a river for bathing and walking. For four hundred years it was something else: the only source of motive power the village had.
Along its banks there still stand, whole or in ruins, the flour mills and fulling mills that ground Borredà's grain and fulled its wool, and the stone bridges built to reach them. Almost all of them worked until after the Civil War. Some are private houses today; of others only a piece of wall remains among the undergrowth.
This page covers thirteen of them, with the exact spot where you leave the car, how to get down and what you see when you arrive. The photographs are our own, taken on the ground at different times of the year.
Walked, measured and photographed by Josep Heras Gomis, who has a house at the masia del Pati in Borredà. The full route is published on Wikiloc and can be downloaded as a GPX track. The historical and heritage-listing data come from the Inventari del Patrimoni Arquitectònic de Catalunya. Last revised: September 2026.
Ripoll, the guild and the lawsuit over the water
To understand why there are so many mills on such a small river you need to know who owned it. The monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll was the jurisdictional lord of the district and parish of Borredà, and it was Ripoll that granted the mills to families in exchange for a fixed rent. In 1521 the abbot's proctor confirmed the grant of the Molí del Sobirà, which was then in ruins, to the Sobirà family; the Campalans mill is documented around the same dates. The abbot of Ripoll also founded, in 1669, the guild of wool-dressers and weavers of Borredà, which had its own fulling mill and its own bridge.
The water, however, was not enough for everyone, and the eighteenth century filled up with lawsuits. In 1747 the Sobirà and Font families went to court over exclusive rights to the water of the Mergançol. And in the middle of the same century the farmer Joan Font kept up a long lawsuit against the guild until he was granted ownership of the use of the water at precisely the spot where the guild had its mill. The guild lost, had to build a new one downstream — the one that has been called Molí d'en Font ever since — and abandon the one at Sant Joan.
It is a little-known story and a very visible one on the ground: the mill that lost the lawsuit has been in ruins for over a hundred years and the water eventually carried it away, while its bridge, a magnificent one, is still standing.
The thirteen points, from Vilada to the headwaters
| Point | What it is | Condition | Coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pont del Doro | Bridge and dam, 1926 | Only visible when the reservoir is low | 42.127429, 1.925997 |
| Molí del Cavaller | Flour mill, 17th-18th century | Ruins inside the reservoir | 42.127436, 1.916251 |
| Pont del Climent | Single-arch bridge, 1930 | Standing, 50 m long | 42.129482, 1.941480 |
| Pont and Molí d'en Font | The guild's mill, 18th century | Bridge standing, mill in ruins | 42.129432, 1.978092 |
| Pont and Molí de Sant Joan | Fulling mill, 17th century | Bridge standing, mill lost | 42.129288, 1.994348 |
| Molí de Cirera | Flour mill, 18th century | Standing, private property | 42.131667, 1.996121 |
| Molí de Dalt or del Xic | The village mill, documented in the 15th century | Restored, private property | 42.136177, 1.999617 |
| Molí del Garrós or de Cal Tisoi | Flour and fulling mill, 16th century | Two pieces of wall | 42.135480, 1.998821 |
| Pont de la Ribera | 17th-century bridge | Rebuilt, the road runs over it | 42.137864, 2.001143 |
| La Torre | House with a tower and a sundial | Standing, private property | 42.138159, 2.000152 |
| Molí del Sobirà | Mill granted in 1521 | Standing, with millstones visible | 42.141879, 2.000247 |
| Molí de Campalans | The first on the Mergançol | Standing, private holiday house | 42.144544, 2.001219 |
| Presa del Molí de Cabanes | Dam of a mill that has disappeared | Only the dam is left | 42.156827, 2.005518 |
The order is the river's own, from the tail of the Baells reservoir up towards the headwaters. The first three points are in the district of Vilada; the rest, in Borredà. Several of these mills are private homes today: you see them from the path and you do not visit them.
Pont del Doro
It was built in 1926 on the orders of the contractor and businessman Teodor Miralles i Soler, and that is where the name comes from. It is not just a bridge: the ensemble includes an adjoining dam and its channels. The bridge was raised with old techniques, with a great arch resting on the rock at both ends, and that is exactly what has given it the strength to still be there a century later. The dam is some eight metres high and curved in shape, split into two flanks, one running north to south and the other east to west.
The condition for seeing it: it lies inside the tail of the Baells reservoir and only appears when the reservoir is fairly empty, below half its capacity. It is worth checking the level before you go.
Getting there: leaving Vilada towards Berga, about 200 metres along there is a turning on the left signposted "Vilarrassa". Follow it for some 800 metres until you come to a chain and leave the car there (42.128004, 1.928111). Then follow on foot the path that runs along the right bank of the river; the bridge appears after about 150 metres.
Coordinates: 42.127429, 1.925997 · 629 m above sea level · open in map
Molí del Cavaller
It is the strangest sight on the whole route: the remains of a flour mill poking out in the middle of the turquoise water of the reservoir. It belongs to the district of Vilada and is listed on the Generalitat's cultural heritage map under the number IPAC-3734.
It was built in the seventeenth century or at the beginning of the eighteenth, within the domains of the baron of la Portella, and it was grinding throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and until after the Civil War. It was abandoned in the 1940s and today it is completely ruined. Above the water line there is a modern building providing recreational facilities for the area.
Getting there: from the Pont del Doro carry on around the reservoir, keeping it on your left. The path disappears from view in places but there is nothing complicated about it: go straight for about 400 metres as far as the modern building. Like the bridge, it is only visible when the reservoir is below 50 %.
Coordinates: 42.127436, 1.916251 · 629 m above sea level · open in map
Pont del Climent
It is by far the finest bridge on the river and one of the most rewarding corners of the district of Vilada. It was built in 1930 by the local contractor Climent Simon Aguilar, from whom it takes its name. It has a single stone arch and is fifty metres long, and it is listed as built heritage under the number IPAC-3721.
It was not raised for walkers: it served to cross the Mergançol valley during the work of hauling out felled timber. But the spot was already a crossing on foot towards the monastery of la Portella long before that. What impresses most is the height at which it stands above the riverbed.
If you look south from here you will see part of the Canals de Sant Miquel, although they are hard to make out from below. They are named after a series of streams and torrents that come down from the summits of the Picancel range and all flow into the Mergançol, among beeches and holm oaks.
Getting there: crossing Vilada towards Borredà, about 2 km along there is a very sharp turning on the right, signposted "Canals de Sant Miquel". Follow the mountain track for some 300 metres to an open clearing and there turn left as far as the bridge.
Coordinates: 42.129482, 1.941480 · 641 m above sea level · open in map
Pont and Molí d'en Font
This is the mill that was born of a lawsuit won. When the farmer Joan Font obtained recognition of his right over the water where the wool-dressers' guild had its mill, the guild was forced to build a new one here, and this is the one that bears his surname.
Of the fulling and flour mill some ruins remain among the vegetation. What is splendidly preserved is the bridge, included in the Inventari del Patrimoni Arquitectònic de Catalunya, built in the eighteenth century at the same time as the mill and documented as finished in 1741. It has a single arch made of large, fairly irregular voussoirs, with the piers set on the bare rock.
Getting there: leave the car at the entrance to an unsurfaced track on the left of the road (42.129570, 1.975742), cross towards the river and take a faintly marked path. You used to be able to drive in, but the vegetation is slowly taking it over; on foot it is easy enough to follow. After about 200 metres it drops down towards the river and from there you follow the bank to the bridge.
Coordinates: 42.129432, 1.978092 · 722 m above sea level · open in map
Pont and Molí de Sant Joan
The bridge and the mill were built at the same time, at the end of the seventeenth century, and everything belonged to the guild of wool-dressers and weavers of Borredà, founded in 1669 by the abbot of Santa Maria de Ripoll. The mill was a fulling mill: it did not grind grain, it fulled wool.
Of the mill only a few unremarkable pieces of wall are left. It has been in ruins for more than a hundred years and the water eventually carried it away. The bridge, by contrast, is listed and still perfectly standing: a single arch of large dimensions, with irregular stones laid in courses and bound with mortar, left exposed, and a considerable height. After losing the lawsuit and abandoning the mill, the guild went on using the bridge to reach the southern part of the district from the village.
If you go down to the river by the little path beside the bridge you will find some small, very quiet pools, and about 50 metres upstream a pretty waterfall.
Getting there: along the road towards Borredà, 1.5 km from the previous point is the turning signposted "Molí de Sant Joan". Leave the car there (42.129740, 1.991790) and walk down the track, which is wide but best done on foot. At the end the bridge comes into view.
Coordinates: 42.129288, 1.994348 · 755 m above sea level · open in map
Molí de Cirera
It belonged to the Cirera family, documented in Borredà since the tenth century. They came from a large farmhouse inside the parish district of Rotgers, settled in the village and built up a substantial craft business in wool without giving up farming the estate. They built the mill in the eighteenth century, at the height of the period in which the water resources were most intensively used.
It follows the classic farmhouse layout, with a gabled roof and the façade facing east. In the late 1980s it was used as a children's holiday centre and two floors were added, but the original appearance was respected. The original millstones can still be seen in the courtyard.
Getting there: crossing the village, right at the exit there is a track signposted on the right as "Cal Cirera" that leads straight to the mill.
Coordinates: 42.131667, 1.996121 · 767 m above sea level · open in map
Molí de Dalt or del Xic
This was the village mill, the one the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll granted to the various millers who ran it. In the seventeenth century it was also known as Molí d'Escaldaferro, a name documented in Borredà since the fifteenth century.
It was remodelled in the eighteenth century and the machinery it keeps is the result of the nineteenth-century modernisation. It stayed active until after the Civil War and in 1986 it was restored as a second home, respecting the main structure: an almost square plan, irregular stonework laid in courses, a gabled roof with wooden beams and Arabic tiles, and two large wooden balconies on the main façade. It is the only one of them all that keeps its machinery complete.
Getting there: it is on the path down to the Gorg del Salt. Coming down from the road by the signposted turning, before the little flight of steps that leads to the pool carry straight on to the river, and from there you can see the mill. It is private property.
Coordinates: 42.136177, 1.999617 · 792 m above sea level · open in map
Molí del Garrós or de Cal Tisoi
It is first documented in the sixteenth century, as a flour and fulling mill. It passed through several owners but was used for only a short time, because the activity moved to the Molí de Dalt, a little further up the river. It was probably the first to be abandoned, and it shows: only two pieces of wall are left.
There is one detail that shows how this heritage has survived. Up at the house of Cal Tisoi they keep one of the mill's millstones and use it as a garden table.
Getting there: right in front of the Gorg del Salt, a few metres downstream.
Coordinates: 42.135480, 1.998821 · 778 m above sea level · open in map
Pont de la Ribera and La Torre
The Pont de la Ribera was originally a seventeenth-century bridge, of stone and with a single arch crossing the river. Today it is completely rebuilt because the road runs over it, so from above you see nothing at all. To see it you have to go down: just after crossing it a turning on the left leads underneath, and there you do understand what it is.
A few metres away, walking a little further towards Borredà, stands La Torre, a handsome house with a tower rising at the side of the farmhouse. From the road you can see the façade with a large sundial. You reach it by a fairly steep track that climbs up to just below it.
Getting there: about 800 metres from the Molí del Xic along the road, right where it crosses the river, there is a turning on the left where you leave the car (42.138102, 2.001330).
Coordinates: Pont de la Ribera 42.137864, 2.001143 · 798 m · map — La Torre 42.138159, 2.000152 · 810 m · map
Molí del Sobirà
In 1521 the proctor of the abbot of Ripoll confirmed to the Sobirà family the grant of this mill, which was then in ruins, in exchange for a fixed rent. They rebuilt it and kept it working until after the Civil War. The building you see today dates from the end of the seventeenth century.
It is one of the most complete on the whole river. The mill and the miller's house survive, with a ground floor, two upper floors and a gabled roof of Arabic tiles. On the façade the projecting wooden beams remain, the remnants of a double balcony sheltered by the eaves. And on the ground you can still see some millstones, the mid-nineteenth-century husking machine, the entrance to the mill race and the tailrace chamber.
This is also the family of the 1747 lawsuit against the Fonts over exclusive rights to the water of the Mergançol.
Getting there: from the concrete fords where you leave the car (42.141116, 2.001140) carry on northwards on foot. You cross the river twice over concrete fords and stones placed beside the path; if the river is running high you will get your feet a little wet. The mill appears after about 100 metres.
Coordinates: 42.141879, 2.000247 · 806 m above sea level · open in map
Molí de Campalans
It was the first mill in Borredà to use the waters of the Mergançol. It was probably granted by the monastery of Ripoll to the Campalans family around 1521, when it appears documented as Molí de Campalans Jussà. In the eighteenth century it was completely remodelled to suit the requirements of the great Campalans family, and it worked until after the Civil War.
It follows the classic farmhouse layout, facing east and almost square in plan, with a rendered façade, plain voussoired openings, a ground floor and two upper floors, and a gabled roof of Arabic tiles. It keeps part of the mill race, the pond, the millstones and the tailrace chamber. Today it is a holiday house that is let out, so you see it from the path and you do not visit it.
Getting there: from the Gorg Verd follow the path northwards; after about 250 metres it appears on your left.
Coordinates: 42.144544, 2.001219 · 821 m above sea level · open in map
Presa del Molí de Cabanes
It is the highest point on the route and the most discreet: nothing at all is left of the mill. The only thing that survives is the dam, inside the riverbed, which was usually what lasted longest when everything else disappeared.
It works well as the end of the route, because it sums up what has happened to this river: of thirteen mills, some are houses, others two walls, and of one only the waterworks that fed it are left.
Getting there: following the path northwards you pass in front of the village water-treatment plant; at that point the path crosses the river and, walking up along the bank, the remains are about 50 metres on.
Coordinates: 42.156827, 2.005518 · 893 m above sea level · open in map
How to organise it and where to stay
It is not a route to do in one go. The first three points, in Vilada, depend on the level of the reservoir and are visited separately. Those on the stretch of road between Vilada and Borredà are done by car, stopping at each turning. And the last three link up on the same walk that leads to the gorgs of the Mergançol, so it makes sense to combine them in a single morning.
Several of these mills are private homes. You can see them perfectly well from the path and there is no need to enter any property.
Our three places to stay in Borredà are a few minutes from the river, are let whole and take pets at no extra cost:
- Masia El Pati: a farmhouse of 1600 with 6 bedrooms, 20 beds, a swimming pool and 1,000 m² of garden.
- Apartment ideal for couples: open-plan, with a large window and a fireplace.
- Charming rural apartment: with air conditioning and a chill-out area.
Frequently asked questions about the mills of the Mergançol
How many mills were there on the Mergançol river?
This route covers nine mills and four bridges and dams between Vilada and the headwaters of the river. The oldest documented one is Campalans, granted around 1521, and the first to use the waters of the Mergançol.
Can they be visited inside?
No. The Molí de Cirera, the Molí del Xic and the Molí de Campalans are private property (Campalans is now a holiday house that is let out) and the rest are ruins in the middle of the woods. All of them can be seen from the path without entering any property.
When can the Pont del Doro and the Molí del Cavaller be seen?
Only when the Baells reservoir is below roughly half its capacity. Both lie inside the tail of the reservoir. It is worth checking the level before going.
Who owned the mills of Borredà?
The monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll was the jurisdictional lord of the district and granted the mills to families in exchange for a fixed rent. The abbot of Ripoll also founded, in 1669, the guild of wool-dressers and weavers of Borredà, which had its own fulling mill at Sant Joan.
How long did they work for?
Most of them went on grinding until after the Civil War. The Molí del Cavaller was abandoned in the 1940s and the Molí del Xic was restored as a second home in 1986, keeping all its machinery.
Can it be combined with the gorgs?
Yes, and that is what we would recommend. The Molí del Garrós is right in front of the Gorg del Salt, and the Molí del Sobirà, the Molí de Campalans and the Cabanes dam are on the same walk that links the gorgs of the northern stretch.