Lecot Luncheon
On the Monday 18th July after the Tractionades Event in the Auvergne, eight of us set out to take lunch at the Hôtel-Restaurant de Paris in the village of Rochetaillée-sur-Saône just 8 kms north of Lyon. Walter & Noëlla Callens led with their 1934 7B on its trailer behind their C5, the Marcus & Diane Lasance in their 1949 15-Six, then Robin & Sue Dyke in their 1953 Light 15 with fuel starvation problems, followed by Graham & Margaret Pitcher in their 1953 Normale. Graham brilliantly fixed the fuel problem. This was a journey of about 238 kms and we had an excellent navigator who routed us perfectly for 234 kms, but then we became hopelessly lost. With an huge thunderstorm overhead, we sought directions, followed them and got lost again, and we managed to do this three times. The good news was that after the deluge the tractions didn't need washing. Then the gendarmes arrived but they didn't know how to find Rochetaillée - they suggested we had started from the wrong place. By now, slightly late and embarrassed, we were rescued by M. Poinard the owner/chef who led us the final 4 kms to his wonderful restaurant. What a welcome! We were late, but M. & Mme. Poinard and the whole brigade had stayed on, and treated us like royalty.
The tractions were parked up beneath the famous mural of François Lecot in his 1935 11A Berline. Lecot owned this hotel and was a Citroën enthusiast. In 1934 he had driven Paris - Moscow - Paris and the Tour of France & Belgium, but in 1935/36 he drove 400,000 kms in one year. He drove from his hotel to Paris and back in a day, slept for 4 hours, then drove to Monte Carlo and back the next day. He kept up this alternating pattern for the whole year - and he never drank. His traction was well prepared, regularly serviced and entirely reliable. A second accelerator pedal was fitted on the left so that when one leg became tired he could transfer the load.
The speciality dish that François Lecot used to offer was fried frog's legs. M. Poinard's father bought the hotel from Lecot's widow, and frog's legs have remained on the menu ever since. So to enhance our lunch of cold light yoghurt, cucumber & garlic soup, young guinea-fowl (pintadeau) on soft sweet peppers & tomatoes, and waffles with chocolate sauce and whipped cream, we shared a plate of fresh fried frog's legs, supervised throughout by the attentive M. Poinard. What perception - the waffles were from Belgium and the rosé wine was called Diane - this is a restaurant which deserves recogniton for its food and its service.
As Graham said, this was the perfect finish to a wonderful weekend. But all was not over. We were invited into an inner sanctum to sign the visitors book. During the meal our cars had been photographed, and a page prepared for us to sign beneath the photo. Turning back the pages we recognised many of the famous tractionists who had preceded us. We browsed through scrap-books & memorabilia and listened to tales of the past. It was hard to tear ourselves away, but eventually we all set off on our different holidays.
Robin Dyke
