The Louable Contrée stretches from the area of Le Grand Lens up to Diogne. Beyond this point is the Noble Contrée, which stretches from Bella-Lui to Sierre. The “Chemin des Contrées” offers hikers the adventure of travelling between the Louable Contrée and the Noble Contrée via a completely new route.
The region was once under the jurisdiction of Le Grand Lens, a vast territory that covered 5,000 hectares. After an independence movement, the jurisdiction was split into four municipalities in 1905: Lens, Icogne, Chermignon and Montana. Icogne received the entire La Lienne valley, whose hydroelectric potential was unknown at the time.
Did you notice the two impressive old millstones as you arrived in the village? They are the symbol of a valuable and ancient resource in Icogne: its waters. As early as the 15th century, numerous mills and sawmills prospered on the left bank of the River Lienne.
Icogne continues to make good use of its waters today, and the village is blessed with considerable hydroelectric resources. Built in 1907, the first electrical development to exploit the Lienne supplied power to the town of Sion. Fifty years later, the Rawyl dam was built. The income generated by this 50 million cubic metre impoundment area contributes to the prosperity of the municipality.
The path follows the course of the Grand Bisse, which was built in 1450 by the prior Jean Crossar to irrigate the crops and vineyards of the Louable Contrée. Water was truly a kind of blue gold in the arid canton of Valais, which would be almost desert-like without the 200 bisses that thread their way through it. As the author Ramuz so eloquently put it: “We arrived at the Grand Bisse, and as we left the forest it flowed almost to its brim between the rocky embankments (...) with such pure water, so smoothly that it made no sound at all”.
Follow the Grand Bisse as it winds around Le Châtelard hill towards Chermignon. To the west, you can also continue along the Bisse de Clavau towards Sion or head up towards Ayent and Anzère. Turn the route into a circuit by continuing to the Bisse de Sillonin below.
