Valais Day 5: Bella Tola hut - Gruben

Head south-east on a large path (S), and cross the skiing area at the top end of Saint-Luc. Go past Coutta lower station (1), crossing the ski lift from Chalet Blanc (2) (not present on the map).

Walk through the virtually flat Armina alpine pasture heading towards to Armina Lake (3).
After a few hundred metres, you'll reach a trail leading to Bella Tola Lake then to the eponymous summit.

Take this track to the right, reaching the Tour de Cervin trail (signage and Swiss White Red White waymarks) and approaching Meidpass pass (4) from the left through a few bends.

Start the hike down towards Meidsee Lake (5) and along a long trail through the alpine pasture you'll reach Meide Hamlet (6). You'll end the downhill hike through a forest with a few mild bends, reaching the stage of the day, the Gruben Schwarzhorn hotel (8) (l'hôtel de Schwarzhorn de Gruben).

Water available in streams and the Meide fountains
Pleasant stop at Meidsee Lake (when the weather is nice of course).

Meide experience: it was hot when we arrived in Meide with the Swiss flag displayed on top of a chalet in this beautiful hamlet. So I said in a rather loud voice "great a refreshment bar, we can have a beer". Then someone with a strong Swiss accent replies: "there's no refreshment bar here, but there's beer in the 4x4". And so he gets out some beer for us and shows us around the chalet... a real gem. So we then stayed at least an hour talking, and about what? About mountains of course!

During this stage, you just need to look up, the surrounding summits are a feast for the eyes.