Torla

Torla is the main gateway to the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park and is easily found on any map. The best approach to the little that is left of the mill is probably via the Urbanización Ordesa-Gavarnie which you will find on the road between the village of Torla and the Puente the los Navarros. Just walk down from the entrance to the lowest point and you will find the remains of the mill on the right bank of the river Ara (white circle in 1, 5, 6).

Pictures: 30.xii.2019

(1) Urbanization, mill (circle), and río Ara

There is almost nothing left standing: only the back wall (2) and some pieces of a side wall (3). The dense vegetation makes it impossible to check whether there is anything left between the walls.

Behind the mill, a little higher up and just at the border of the urbanization (circle in 6), one can still see some remains of the mill pond.

It is the part that funnels towards the entrance of the pressure pipe (4). The wall is built of natural stone and covered with a layer of cement (4). The entrance of the pressure pipe is protected by a metal grille.

Despite the fact that the mill has not been working for a long time and can hardly be found, the government is still taking precautions for a possible restart.

(2) Remains of the mill seen from the front

(3) Side and back wall

(4) Grille protecting the pressure pipe

Owners of the plots within the rectangle in the aerial photograph (6) must take into account an easement for the benefit of the old mill. We read in the Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Huesca of 12.i.2012 that these owners must grant access to their property if necessary for the maintenance of the water supply to the mill.

Notice how the river is eating away the grounds of the urbanization (1). That is also visible in the aereal views (5, 6). The phenomenon is so bad that protective reinforcements of the bank have to be built (6).