Plateau de Millevaches  The Plateau de Millevaches (in Occitan Replanat de Miuvachas) is an upland area in Limousin a former administrative region of France. It covers approximately 3,500 km² and crosses the boundaries of three French departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. The majority of the area is at an altitude of between 600 m and 1000 m. Although commonly referred to as a plateau, the Millevaches Massif is actually more like a shallow dome, deeply dissected by streams and rivers, and slightly tilted, with the south-eastern edge elevated and more exposed. This is the visible remnant of a laccolith, a large lens-shaped mass of granite, believed to be the result of an intrusion of igneous material in the late Hercynian or Variscan orogeny. As the surrounding, softer material has weathered away, the laccolith has become increasingly exposed. Although not strictly a plateau, depending upon which direction one approaches the area from, the Plateau de Millevaches forms an important kind of step up (or a step down) in the Massif Central. There are a number of definite peaks, the highest being Mont Bessou (976m.), at the southern edge of the massif, near Meymac. The massif is generally densely wooded, with large areas of both coniferous forest and mixed woodland. Among the broadleaf trees, birch and beech predominate, and many roads are lined with beeches. The highest part of the massif, bounded roughly by the villages of Rempnat, Peyrelevade, Millevaches and Saint-Merd-les-Oussines, is the most densely wooded, with little agriculture or even stock-rearing intruding among the forests. Elsewhere, there is a patchwork of woods and meadows, with herds of Limousin cattle dotting the landscape, and a few fields of maize or rye. There is a distinctive type of bog or marsh ("tourbières" in French) which gives rise to numerous rivers such as the Vienne. Many of these rivers are often filled with wild brown trout. The area around the village of Millevaches and the Signale d'Audouze (an outstanding peak) is part of an important watershed. The Vienne, which has its sources here, flows mainly northward, across central France, to feed the Loire.