....continued from #MP29.

These four pages of My Pics feature photos from Reflexia's visit to France in 2005. The full story appears in the Articles section for ease of reading. It contains all the same pictures as displayed on these pages, but with a comprehensive write-up.

click here to see the full article

I took the R4 on a few drives during my stay in the area, starting off with an excursion around the Allier region to the west of Vichy. The first photo (above) shows my first encounter with one of Eiffel's grand viaducts, at Rouzat, north of Gannat. It was a truly impressive structure spanning a river and wide gorge. Another of Eiffel's viaducts, similar in style though slightly less spectacular in location, was situated a few kilometres up the road at Neuvial, from where the picture below was taken (the viaduct itself isn't visible).

Heading further west, I stopped aside a field of sunflowers to capture Reflexia in the glorious sunny surroundings (below). Alas, you can see here the extent of rot developing on the driver side. The blobby patch around the rear quarter window is clearly visible, as is the rust on the outer sill, and you may also be able to see the black area at the rear of this sill, where welding had to be performed for the car's recent MOT. This involved cutting a section of the outer sill in order to access the rear suspension area inside, then welding the part back on. It was done professionally by an able mechanic, but left unpainted or retouched with the black coating. On closer inspection, the car has a lot of rust all over, despite the chassis being in a good state for its age. With there being far too much for me alone to attempt to patch up, I couldn't be sure at this stage to what lengths I might go in attending to it. Perhaps the worst parts would be mended before the winter, but it would be impossible to achieve perfection with this car without spending inordinate amounts of money.

An excursion further north-west took me to the villages of Louroux-de-Bouble and Coutansouze, in between which lay another impressive viaduct spanning a wide valley. At the station located in the former of these two villages, I discovered a Renault 6 parked outside (below).

Another photo from this location appears in the Mystery Cars section of the Gallery (number MC101). At Coutansouze, I spotted another Renault 4 on a country lane, and the photo can be found, slightly spuriously, on the Pets page in the Playroom (number PE16).

The bridge seen below is called the Viaduc des Fades, and lies some 30km north-west of the city of Clermont-Ferrand. It was conceived on an Eiffel-like scale, but by another engineer named Félix Virard.

Pictures from this trip continue in the next entry, #MP31.