The natural and cultural landscape of the excursion

According to the research carried out by Dr. Enric Aguadé Sans, renowned doctor and hiker from Reus, it seems that the toponym of way of the dead it comes from its construction and exclusive use at the beginning for the transport of the deceased leaders of the monastery-castle of Escornalbou with the right to be buried in the cloister of the cathedral of Tarragona. It is based on the fact that the toponym is preserved in the terms of Reus, Vila-seca and Riudoms and that the path was narrow without allowing the crossing of two processions and without presenting original entries to the estates through which it passes. It seems that the different episodes of plague that affected the region during the 13th and 14th centuries contributed to the construction of this passage that allowed a funeral procession without entering the villages and without the risk of contagion. But the name could also come from the Roman necropolis excavated near the Mas de Valls, where tombs have been located along the way, indicated by the so-called Pedra Stela, which gives its name to Pedra Stela way.

And the fact is that the population of the southern part of Reus dates back to the time of the Romans (or even earlier) and is still maintained today with magnificent farmhouses such as but of Montagut, which maintains the agricultural exploitation of hazelnut trees and the landscaping with monumental species, or the more than Valls located on an old Roman villa, currently surrounded by vineyards and where the De Muller company was installed in 1996, the official supplier of Vatican mass wine and other brands of wines and cavas.

Following this route you will also reach agricultural corners of great beauty, with fields of carob and olive trees along the Aigüesverds paths and the old path from Riudoms to Vila-seca, where the attentive observer will see rabbits hurrying to cross the path or an owl or aligot standing guard at the top of the telephone and light poles that line the roads.

Extra

The Carbonell spring is a temporary water point of particular interest for fauna, with vegetation specific to the habitat.