Aumont-Aubrac → Nasbinals

The route enters the Aubrac plateau, a vast treeless highland of granite and basalt. The famous Aubrac cattle, recognised by their distinctive large brown eyes and lyre-shaped horns, graze the high pastures. In spring, the plateau erupts with wildflowers: narcissus, gentians, and orchids carpet the grassland.

Watch for the burons, the traditional stone shepherd's huts scattered across the plateau where herdsmen once spent entire summers making cheese. Many are now abandoned, but some have been converted into seasonal restaurants serving aligot, the extraordinary local dish of melted cheese and mashed potato that stretches in elastic strings.

Nasbinals is a charming village on the plateau with a fine 11th-century Romanesque church built from local basalt, giving it a dark, almost sombre beauty.