Footloose Pilgrims: A Journal of Moped Travels Through Europe

mo.ped/moh-ped/ noun1. A low-power, lightweight motorized bicycle that can be pedalled. Two brothers moped their way into adventures through Europe in the mid-1950s on $5 a day.

They meet the natives, fight the elements, the topography and swear at their machines while getting to their?destination. Along the way, they encounter friends and foes; they learn about the high price for running over a farmers laying hen in Belgium; go where no tourist is supposed to go in Italy; walk in the night mist with Irish tinkers; challenge Francos Spanish Guardia Civil; converse in a language unknown to man, while under the influence with Portuguese University students; are entertained by recollections of America by a retired Free French aviator; cross the Austrian Alps in a howling snowstorm with red-hot engines, as they daily move into new territory. Dick and Bill Lynams peripatetic journey across Western Europe is filled with observations, anecdotal comments, reflections on the people, and summaries of current and recent history and political events in the countries they visited.