There is nothing special about the Torrent de Son Valls in Mallorca. This is one of the island’s dry water-beds that ages ago may have been small rivers or streams of which there are a great number, possibly in the hundreds. Every once in a while, perhaps every twenty years or so, heavy rainfalls cause the dried-up waterways to swell and convert into gushing wildwater, causing some flooding of surrounding agricultural farmland. Last week’s Tromba de Agua did not cause such gushing of waters in torrents as far as I am aware but, some flooding was reported by some farmers irrespective of any torrents.

The Torrent de Son Valls is special for its puente, though, a small, rather primitive foot bridge built perhaps 300 years ago in a rather crude, unrefined manner and, still standing after all these years without any cementation, foundation or other architectural engineering. I imagine it was built when the torrente still was the bed of an active stream or brook and had the function of allowing a shepherd and his flock of sheep or goats to cross the waters on dry hooves. Not many of these ancient puentes can still be found.

The photo was taken near Son Valls, Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: March 9th, 2011. The time was 12:58:11.