«Josi sits up, smiles dreamily, searches the heights with red, swollen eyes and sees how her father mounts the delicate waterwheel, which lifts the warning hammer and lets it fall on the board, so that its beat resounds through the valley. A flag wave up towards the slope, men standing at the start of the channel open the flow of the holy water. In a few moments it will stream through the new channels. Soon the warning hammer will give the first signal» The book «An heiligen Wassern» (On Holy Waters) by Jakob Christoph Heer is suitable reading for hikes along ancient water channels.

Centuries ago farmers in the sunny, dry Valais created an irrigation system to supply water to meadows and fields- a system which is still amazing today. Wild glacier streams were tapped and the life-giving element was supplied to the cultivated slopes via a skilfully laid network of channels. In Upper Valais these channels were called «suonen», in Lower Valais «bisses». The channels are evidence of the history, culture and civilization of the southern canton. Dug into the ground, hewn out of the rocks or spectacularly suspended on cliff faces, and as scars, a reminder of earlier times and the population’s battle against drought.

It’s a long time since all bisses have carried water; many channels have long fallen into ruin. However, the ancient channels are being rediscovered, restored and carefully repaired. Fabulous flora is developing along them and the babble of the water has a soothing effect. «Chemin des Bisses» is a six-day hike to delight the senses. It leads from Col de Planches to Grimentz and follows the «holy waters» along the northern slopes of the Rhonetal valley.