Saint Saviol ... but not the way we planned

Our trip to La Rochelle and Poitiers took shape around our plan to visit a secondhand dealer - LaBrocalou LeTitoustock - in the countryside, some 65 kms from Poitiers.  We thought we would be able to take a train from Poitiers to Saint Saviol station, then take a taxi from Saint Saviol for the 15 minute drive to LaBrocalou.

But no ...

Too late we realised that Saint Saviol was so tiny that there were no taxis ... you needed to book one from a nearby town, and there seemed to only be one in each area, ie one 6kms away, one 8kms away, etc.  Mr Brocalou alerted us to the fact that Sunday in the countryside would be hard to find a taxi, so we changed our plans and left La Rochelle early on Saturday morning, thinking we would hire a car in Poitiers to make the visit.  But, alas, no available hire cars - there was one van available, but it was manual drive, and it seemed to me too much to think about ... sitting on the opposite side of the car, moving through gears, and driving on the opposite side of the road!

So we took the train to Saint Saviol ... we would be sure to get a taxi ... right?  Err, wrong!  I rang all the numbers that we had tracked down, but no-one was available to provide a taxi service.  At least as I understood from the conversations - no English spoken during these country calls!  I suggested to Brent there would be a bar or café somewhere in the town that might be able to help ... so we walked the 3kms to the town centre.  But there was only the town hall (and it was simply a hall), tennis courts, sporting centre - all deserted!

We contemplated the 16km walk to LaBrocalou, but without a taxi back, this would be a 32km round trip ... not sure our legs were up to that ... and we would miss the last train back to Poitiers!  So, four hours of downtime at Saint Saviol station - lucky we're good at amusing ourselves - and finally a very welcome train back to Poitiers!

The station at Saint Saviol looks inviting from a distance ... but it's actually derelict and locked!  We made ourselves comfortable in a tiny shelter in the carpark, and for fun walked across the bridge over the tracks to the cornfields!

What did we learn from this adventure ... well, planning your connections in advance would be high on the list!