Took my perfectly good Metro to the bridge today.

[dave21478]

FOOLED YOU LOL.

 

Went to work this morning and within 45 seconds knew it was going to be a shithouse day so sacked it off and came home. Rather than mooch around the house in a sulk all day I decided to go for a spev in the Metro as I havent used it much of late.

 

Its a couple of hours drive up to the viaduct from here and was a nice warm day for it.

 

Not much spottage on the way. The odd 405 and stuff like that but the truley interesting was rare. Not pictured due to blurry was a nice Riva estate and an Ami8 break in a side road.

 

This pickup looked minty. Obviously too good for Africa...

 

A 205 on a spike.

 

I thought the French were supposed to have style and taste? here we see a typical Boy Racer chariot - more doors diesel model with missmatched alloys, white trainer paint highlighting his WingWongs and his chicken/flames graphic stuck on the wrong side so its pointing backwards.

 

 

 

This bridge defies words. If you are in the area and like a bit of engineering porn, its worth the detour. There is an interesting wee visitors centre under it too with info about its construction etc.

Crossing it is a slight anti-climax as you dont see much, especially if you are driving, although you do notice how curved it is which you dont see from the ground. Its not cheap either - the Autoroute toll is a fair stinger for this section, but there is a nice rest-stop on the north side with an awesome view. I never went today as the Metro isnt really rigged for Autoroute use and given later events, probably just as well I didnt!

 

 I have been here a few times before and it never fails to impress with the sheer scale of it. With the light on it just right it looks like some kind of computer rendering - no way should something that massive and spindly be standing up! From underneath you obviously dont see the traffic on it, but a little to the side you can see HGVs looking like teeny Matchbox toys as they cross.

 

 

 

Photographs (especially if taken with a telephone) just dont do it any kind of justice.

 

This might make me sound like a soppy `tard but whenever I see this thing I feel really quite humbled - mankind is capable of some really impressive stuff.....if only we didnt piss trillions away fighting each other, we could be doing properly Great Things.

 

 

And then on the way home the inevitable happened. While in traffic in town the Metro suddenly gave a massive guff of steam from the grill and edges of the bonnet - oh fuck. I nursed it to a pez station and stopped for a peek.

 

The dashcam view of a fat man opening the bonnet amid a cloud of steam.

Coolant all over the bulkhead, subframe, battery and boiling off the manifold.

 

The leak was somewhere under the carb. This thing runs a heated inlet manifold but I couldnt see anything so dont know if its that, the pipework to or from it or maybe the HG leaking externally. Weirdly, the leak seemed to slow right down though so I bunged in some water I keep in a 5-litre bottle in the boot and carried on. For some reason after the initial "burst" the leak is just a steady trickle.

I kept the heater on full for extra cooling power and as an indicator - when it started to blow cool, the water level had dropped enough to stop proper circulation through the matrix, so I would stop and top up again. I had to stop 4 times on the way home, filling my water bottle wherever I could at pez stations and shops.

 

All home now, its back in its garage in disgrace and I will have a peek tomorrow for a diagnosis.

 

FIN.

 

[Angry Sheep]

Cool pics, slightly envious of you living so close that to that area. Have been over and under the bridge, and camped nearby. Agree that it's well worth a look from below.

 

Shame about the issues with the Metro. If it helps, mine is also currently in disgrace.

[Jim Bell]

Top bridging. Looks like a lovely are that. 

[Skizzer]

The Millau Viaduct is indeed an awesome construction (and I'm using that word literally, meaning 'filling one with awe', not in the currently fashionable way, meaning 'moderately positive'.  I'm using the word 'literally' literally, too).  

 

It was quite astonishing seeing it being built - it was hard to believe that they were really going to span that wide, that high. The old road northwards into Millau from the Montpellier side is rather nice too, though, and all the more so now there's less traffic on it.

 

Hope the bonny wee Metro recovers.  There's no K in the French alphabet, is there?  So goodness knows what they call K-Seal.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

And of course to misquote that famous Rover 827 Fastback TV ad, that was around when your Metro was new;

" Britischer Arkitect "

 

A couple of years ago I manipulated our family 2 weeks in St Tropez to go via Millau, we stayed overnight in some pikey chalet things . The rest of the family were not overly happy about the detour, but the next morning looking up at that bridge,even they were impressed. To quote one of my kids "it looks like some aliens just plonked it down over the town"

[anonymous user]

 

" Britischer Arkitect "

Although the structural engineer who made it work was French

[fatharris]

"Took my perfectly good Metro to the bridge, and came home with it being not so perfectly good" is a better title, but wordy

Beautiful bridge though.

[mat_the_cat]

FOOLED YOU LOL.

 

Not me. I was pretty certain you wouldn't bin ANYTHING if there was even the slightest chance of it being repairable...

[richardmorris]

Hope the metro is ok, the bridge photos are great. Did you go to the viewing area or just stick to the ground underneath?

[chaseracer]

There's no K in the French alphabet, is there?

 

Only at 'le weekend'...

 

[dave21478]

Hope the metro is ok, the bridge photos are great. Did you go to the viewing area or just stick to the ground underneath?

 

No, I never went over it this time. The Metro isnt too happy at 130kph and just as well I didnt force it, if the coolant went while up there I would have been in real shit - apparently there is a pretty hefty fine for breaking down on the bridge. They are mega hot on people not stopping on it to prevent people trying to jump off.

 

 

As for K Seal, I have never seen it in shops here, but have a few bottles in the garage that I bought on ebay.

[Twiggy]

There`s a fascinating video on you tube about the construction of this bridge. Well worth watching.

[tooSavvy]

Did they build it by pushing 'welded box section' out from both sides, using temporary pillars to get it far enough to complete cabling it to the pylons.

 

Some guy (and fit!!) climbs up inside the pylons to do 'maint checks'... Saw him on the box >> someone referred to "awesome"?

 

TS

[hairnet]

Went not long after it opened in 04

 

The valley is ace too

 

They went back to Aubusson I carried on to monte carlo - came out the tunnel and to the chicane and it was flea market day lol