Roadtrip from Bordeaux to Blois

Bad start

Today, we start a two-day road trip from Bordeaux to Le Mans via a short section of the Loire Valley.  With the rental car booked for 0830, we set the alarm for 0630 and were out the door at 0730 bound for the airport, where the rates were far cheaper than from a city location and it didn’t have a one-way or relocation fee!

The tram to the airport wasn’t as easy as our journey from the airport 3 days ago.  Part-way through the journey, the destination changed to a station several stops before the airport.

I was hoping it was some kind of mistake but nope, it wasn’t.  There were some technical issues.

A bus replacement was on hand immediately, but seeing the number of people on the tram, we rushed to it to ensure we didn’t have to wait for the next bus.

We eventually go to the airport around 0850 instead of 0830.

Bordeaux to Poitiers

Europcar offered us our car, a Citroen C3 or similar or two paid upgrade options.  We declined the upgrade but our car turned out to be a complimentary upgrade to a very new Renault Austral-E hybrid.

We departed at 0910 on a 3h drive to Poitiers, which had a very nice old centre.  Parked up near the Cathedral, because that’s where we thought there would be food around, we had to walk further in search.

We found a boulangerie and patisserie which did an excellent baguette and apple pastry.  Kim was a bit disappointed that I had rushed into that choice before he could explore sit-down café options.

After finishing our lunch seated in the market square, we wandered around the town and visited St Pierre’s Cathedral before continuing on our drive.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

Saint Savin

It was about 35 min drive to Saint Savin where we parked in the shade outside the abbey.  Kim wasn’t interested in visiting the abbey, so he amused himself separately then found a café for a cuppa tea.

I went to the open door of the abbey and stupidly paid EUR10 to visit.  That took me through several rooms of displays in French, but I had been given a translation booklet in English.  The displays explained the history, how the frescoes are made etc.  It wasn’t particular interesting to me.

After that, I found that the abbey’s church is free for all to visit. Damn!  The church is a bit different with frescoes in the ceiling and some other areas.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

Stops along the way from Saint Savin to Chambord

We took a number of photo stops along the way from Saint Savin to Chambord, dragging the driving time up to about 3h.

The notable and picturesque stops were Angles sur Anglin, Chateauvieux and Saint-Aignan.

It was nearly 1800 when we drove into Chateau de Chambord’s compounds so we’d have to save the visit for tomorrow.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

Nightstop near Blois

Last night, we had cancelled our hotel in Blois in favour of an air-conditioned one less than 10 mins away from Chambord.  Relais de la Loire was a nice little hotel on top of a restaurant.  But tonight, the restaurant and bar were closed, and we were the only guests overnighting.

We dropped our bags and headed back out promptly to find dinner in Blois.  I repeated this lunchtime’s mistake by suggesting we park near the Cathedral to find dinner.

It was a downhill walk towards the happening area where we found a very competitive street full of nice but relatively cheap places, eg. kebab, burgers and Chinese!

Our taste buds were craving for MSG, spice and rice.  It turned out to be an excellent and economical choice.  We had a wander around Blois before returning to the hotel, not realising that we had missed Blois’ chateau.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

Back in the room, it appeared the aircon wasn’t working very well.  Despite that the warm sticky environment, we both slept surprisingly well with the duvet removed from its cover.

We did open the window halfway through the night once the outside air had cooled down.