It was immediately obvious to me why the Bisse du Ro hike is considered one of Crans-Montana's main attractions. After all, how many other trails have an arch at the beginning featuring images from the trail? This arch is in the centre of Crans-Montana and the start of the trail is the steepest section. Within minutes from town I was walking beside the bisse and the sound of rushing water would, from that point, be a constant companion.

Just behind the 5* Six Senses the bisses passes beneath another stream which, shortly after, tumbles down as a waterfall beside the hotel. I had to concentrate to not lose the trail when it briefly separated from the bisse, but soon I was back alongside the water and padding along a curving wooden walkway (one of the newer pieces of trail infrastructure). Although I'd only just set off the town already felt far away, especially when the trail entered a quiet pine forest.

I get uneasy when standing beside deathly drops and so I'd been lulled into a sense of security while following the winding forest trail. Eventually, though, the first section of cliff-clinging walkway appeared. It was made from wood and, between it and the cliff face, the bisse had been carved from the rock. Centuries ago people had cut holes into the rock, into which a larch beam (known as a 'boutzer') was placed to support the walkway and, at times, a wooden channel. Making these holes was a perilous task and many people fell to their deaths while constructing the bisse.

I, however, was assured by the famous engineering prowess of the Swiss and so happily followed the walkway, occasionally ducking where the cliff hung low. The wood creaked beneath my feet and I don't image the scene had changed much in several hundred years. In fact, the only sign of modernity was the Tseuzier dam far away across the valley. Through the trees I occasionally caught glimpses of the valley 400 metres below.

Constantly impressed by this man-made marvel, which runs for 5km (the entire hike is 12km long), I saw how no water was lost despite the many switches between wood and rock channels hundreds of metres up in the air. Even after the bisse had been constructed there were still plenty of job opportunities to be had, including for someone to manage the distribution of the water and to see that it is being properly used. Another role — which continues to this day — is to keep a daily watch over the bisse, to check for leaks, blockages or damage. What a lovely job that must be.

From high above a small waterfall fell over the trail, but was caught in a dangling wooden trough and diverted into the bisse. This seemed to be the origin of the waterway. I wondered how the people in the valley immediately below thought about having their water source diverted to a different community.

Despite the trail continuing on I turned around at the 'Passerelle du Bisse du Ro', which is a 120 metre-long suspension bridge that hangs 70 metres above the ground. The bridge was opened in 2020 and has more than a slight wobble to it. However, having seen the vertigo-inducing route of the old part of the trail I was more than happy to gaze from this unstable bridge before returning along the route I'd come.

Even in the 13th century the Swiss were all about precision. The water from the bisses was divided into equal parts and then, from every April, it was distributed among residents according to the rights they had acquired. For over 700 years water had been flowing through the channel I'd walked beside. This sense of history, mixed with my awe at the engineering and delight at the scenery, made for a truly memorable hike that alone was worth the journey to Crans-Montana.