Pierre Bettembourg
 

On Saturday afternoon 16th May, I was just returning from a trip out on the bike after lockdown here in France, and my phone rang. At the other end a distraught voice cried,........''Pierre is dead''.

Roger Primout ( OTRA) had first introduced me to his lifelong friend and fellow traveller Pierre ( GABACHO) Bettembourg in 2013 at the first French HU meeting at St Amans des Cots. He also came to our highly successful meeting in 2016 at Loupiac and became an instant celebrity for his concurrent translations of the presentations in both English and French. His fluency in English, French and Spanish was a skill well used in his work as a translator for the United Nations.

He travelled globally for the UN and I think sometimes spent more time in the air than on his bikes ( a few!). He had just returned to his house in Paris after two month lockdown with his wife and daughter at their family home in Copenhagen. He was in his early 60's.

He was found on Saturday morning by another friend, but cause unknown. Suspected coronary. My thoughts go out to his family and many friends world wide, and especially Roger ( OTRA) and Brigitte.

RIP.

Photos Loupiac 2016. in discussion with Ted Simon and translating at a presentation.

Very sorry to hear about Pierre, he will be missed by many. He has helped out HU and travellers many times with his skills in translation, and was always quick to help me with translations and anything else needed.

Thank you John for thiese few words, terrible news and after a week I can't realised Pierre is gone, we were suppose to celebrate today his new sidecar and had travel project to test it. He was like my brother since more than forty years and will be forever by my side On The Road....Again ...OTRA

I had first met him at the 4th French Horizons Unlimited meeting in Loupiac, Lot department. This was back in September 2016, and I had chosen to present my 4 months travel in Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. It was a very international audience, honoured by Ted Simon’s presence, who had joined to sign the French version of his work « Jupiter’s travels ».

Pierre was « assigned » as my translator, and he showed high interest into my Asian experience. At least one reason for this, he told me that he was to get to Phnom Penh the following month for a two-years new mission for the Khmers Rouges International Trial. Indeed Pierre, as a professional translator, had just left The Hague and its trial on former Yugoslavia.
We exchanged our e-mail addresses, just in case, as people do when they wish to keep in touch. In most cases the relationship ends there; but not for us.

A coincidence brought me to Phnom Penh 18 months later: I had planned a two months journey in Northern Thailand then Bali; My second destination was jeopardized by the Mount Agung eruption. Air traffic was suspended; and on top of this, I made a bad bike fall on the Thai dust roads.
Pierre, to whom I would regularly send pictures, invited me to stay at his home for my convalescence; we then explored together all the rare motorbike rentals in Phnom Penh.
He was worried by my optimism even though I was planning to go slow and steady…Later on, he told me that after I flew back to France, he visited the rental shop again, and found the mechanic in front of my Baja 250 engine entirely stripped down : surprising a-posteriori consciousness, as I had only ridden 2500km…

Outstandingly convivial, Pierre introduced me to his network of friends and colleagues and made me discover the good restaurants where he was a regular customer: we would not have dinner at the Tamarind, but at Annette’s, nor at the Sicilian restaurant, but at Luigi’s.

He would tell me about himself, his passion for motorbikes, his job.
Translating judiciary decisions is a very specialised skill: verdicts are announced in English, then translated into Khmer and French, the language of International Diplomacy. Legal rules, burden of proof, are not similar between Anglo-Saxon countries and France. Words do not strictly refer to similar items. He also had to translate the « appendices », dreadful testimonies by survivors as well as the unwavering denial by persecutors. He would also tell me about his carrier as an interpreter – simultaneous translation- with UNESCO and UNO, quite another know-how, which demands both high agility and exceptional memory.

He would also tell me about his mix of reluctance and attraction towards solo journeys. Interested in everything, having subscriptions to motorbike magazines from several countries, he had friends all around the world, that he was planning to visit once retired. He had spent several years in Spain after his academic studies in England, and planned to ride through Cambodia, which I was lucky enough to do. Pierre’s mission in Cambodia had ended in January 2019. Since then, he would come and go between London, Paris, and Southern Spain, not forgetting to attend the Swiss HU meeting, while prospecting to buy a home in Copenhagen, where his spouse is working.

Rest in peace, Pierre...

Pierre is certainly riding somewhere in a far sierra, side by side with Wayne (Gypsy) for sure... :)...

I can imagine that, Toulouse sausages cooked on a barbeque washed down with a good bottle of Bordeaux!!, followed by Wayne's famous grilled chocolate bananas!
( Remember St Amans des Cots 2014).:laugh:

C'est un tres bel hommage que tu rend à Roger.

J'ai eu la chance de le connaitre son talent de traducteur en 2016. Patient et il recherchait toujours le bon mot pour faire passer nos émotions.

Puis lors de la passation d'organisation du HU il a été présent afin de me retranscrire le travail que John avait réalisé. Il s'est retiré ensuite , laissant à mon équipe tout la place pour s'exprimer. Repose en Paix Roger.

Still alive!!!
 

Ces mots me vont droit au coeur Thierry , mais je me porte comme un charme juste très très triste depuis le décès de PIERRE (GABACHO) BETTEMBOURG......mon ami, mon frère

Bonjour, Roger

Je suis Andrea Salgado, l'amie Chilienne de Peter. C'est tres longtemps des qu'il nous a presente a Dieppe, presque 35 ans.

Je viens d'avoir les tristes nouvelles de la mort de Peter. Sera-t-il que tu pourrais te communiquer avec moi, s'il te plait?

Andrea

Bonjour Andrea
 

Ça fait presque 40 ans!!Toute une vie !! Oui pas de soucis tu peux me contacter via la messagerie HU.
A bientôt