Chambord Transportation

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“If you have travelled through fair Touraine in summer, you have no doubt followed with enchantment the peaceful Loire; you have regretted the impossibility of determining upon which of its banks you would choose to dwell with your beloved.”
— from “Cinq-Mars” 1827 by Alfred De Vigny (1797-1863)

ALONG THE BANKS OF THE LOIRE The town of Chambord, a commune in the Loir-et-Cher département, is on the River Loire’s Left Bank within the area of Old Touraine. We traveled through Touraine and its neighboring areas along the Loire in a Volkswagon Polo (see photo #2). It had been 30 years since I last drove a car with a manual transmission; after a short relearning curve, the clutch/shifting moves returned like it was 1978!

Another car was highlighted during our visit to the castle. Chambord, the car, was displayed on the grounds as part of the “Made in Chambord Exhibition,” about how the name Chambord has been used in modern product marketing.

The car was manufactured from 1954 to 1961 by the French automaker Simca at their factory in Poissy, France.

While a traveler goes about his wanderings he depends upon Saint Christopher. Not only did Our Saint protect life and limb, he protected our wallet, too. One morning we set out on another adventure and I made a wrong turn. We passed a supermarket, with a gas station, as is the French arrangement. The best prices for diesel, gazole as the French call it, can be found at supermarkets. We needed gazole; I pulled in; Tom pumped (see photo #3) and we saved 30 euro cents per litre. That is what I would call divine intervention!

Americans grumble about the high price of fuel at the pump; Europeans have historically paid more. With the abysmally poor exchange rate we paid between $8 and $9 per gallon!

This fine reminder of St. Christopher’s service to Christ (see photo #4) was found at la Cathédrale de la Sainte-Croix in Orléans.

It's not easy to get to Chambord since there's no train station. However, from the Blois train station, TLC (another service than the one which handles the Blois city area!) buses leave about three times each day for Chambord during low season (and probably more during high season). I took one at 12:25 and I came back to Blois at 16:35. You can get the timetable at the Blois Tourist Office.