Day 10: Sant Joan Despi - Mediterranean Sea

On my last day hiking the Llobregat River, I am once again joined by Sara. In the morning we meet with Joan Bordas and Pep Clavero, both of which are expert botanists. Joan is the sixth generation in his family to work as a gardener/horticulturalist! He has followed a long family tradition of managing Jardinerias Bordas, since 1918. Joan and Pep first take me to the wetlands at Molins de Rei. They are a beautiful example of what the lower Llobregat could look like in the future. The wetlands are filled with cattails, as well as riparian trees common in the Mediterranean such as pollancre (Populus Alba, Populos Alba Nivea), Lladuners (Celtis Australis), Tamariu (Tamarix Gallica, Tamarix, Africanica). Unlike the biologists from the University of Barcelona, Joan and Pep held the invasive cane in high regard. They point out that the cane serves as habitat for other species and they dispute the claim that the cane stalls the classic Mediterranean succession.

In the wetlands the point out the presence of Salicra a plant with purple flowers that indicates relatively clean water. They also show me a native grass called 'grava de Sitges' (Paspaloum Districhum) that uses 15 times less water than the English species often planted by landscape architects in Spain. We also found Estramoni (Datura Stramonium) a plant used turn of the century painters and architects to get high and hallucinate.

I asked Joan and Pep about the possiblity of restoring the salt mountains in Sallent, and they assure me that it can be done.

I see construction near the Llobregat from here and to the Mediterranean. Everywhere there are machines moving earth from one place to the next, installing pipes or taking them out. I pass the water treatment plant managed by AGBAR at Sant Joan Despi, but I'm confident that Roger Lloret will give me a personal tour next week.

After el Prat del Llobregat, home of the historian Juame Codina, I encounter the spot where engineers changed the course of the Llobregat river in order to expand the industrial zone of the Zona Franca. This monumental feat of engineering, raises the question: if we can move a river, can't we restore it as well?

At this point, I begin to smell the salt of the ocean. There is more algae in the river than upstream, and the river islands and meanders disappear.

Here the Llobregat ceases to look like the river that I had followed for ten days. It looks more like an extension of the Mediterranean, flowing upstream. When the engineers changed the course of the river, did they really bring the Llobregat to the Sea, or did they allow the Sea to gobble up the Llobregat inland?

Finally, I see where the Llobregat meets the Mediterranean.
In the final kilometer we enter the protected area of the Llobregat Delta. A chain linked fence prevents us from following the course of the river, and guides us to trails in the delta created for bird watchers and cyclists. My sense of direction tells me that the path will meet the Mediterranean south west from where the Llobregat meets the sea. And indeed, by the time we hit the beach we see dikes guiding the Llobregat into the Mediterranean about 750 meters to our left. The path ends, and we see the beach, but do not have access. Instead we are surrounded by chained linked fences, and signs warning us not to trespass. Futhermore, major construction was drilling next to us, causing a horrendous noise. Sara and I are tempted to jump the fence, even though we saw a security truck slowly pass and give us a menacing stare. It was frustrating to walk the entire length of the Llobregat, only to be treated like a prisoner at the end. The freedom and liberty I had enjoyed over the past 10 days, following the river, and moving around obstacles, came to an abrupt end, as I was constrained by the urban insfrastructure and the urban norms that restricted my access, and prevented me from swimming in the Mediterranean, as I had hoped.