The Aubrac plateau and Laguiole

You simply drive up. Less than an hour from Entraygues the landscape changes completely: the enclosed gorges give way to the bare expanses of the Aubrac plateau, between 1,000 and 1,400 metres above sea level.

What makes the Aubrac different

Grass, dry-stone walls, burons, the summer-pasture huts where tome cheese was once made, and Aubrac cattle with their kohl-rimmed eyes. Almost no trees, very few fences, and an open horizon you will not find anywhere else in the Massif Central.

The flowering season, from late May to mid-June, is the moment to aim for: narcissi, daffodils and wild orchids cover the plateau.

Laguiole

The village is known for two things. Knife-making first: beware of imitations, the name Laguiole is not protected, so look for workshops that make on site. Food second: this is where you eat aligot, the stretchy purée whipped with fresh tome, whose preparation is a spectacle in itself.

Getting there

Allow about forty kilometres and roughly an hour: mountain roads take longer than the map suggests.

Bring a jacket, even in summer. It is routinely ten degrees cooler on the plateau than by the Truyère, and the wind blows there without obstacle.