History

Here is a quote from issue 66 of Singletrack (UK):

It’s humbling to see we haven’t come as far as we like to think
we have. In the 1880’s Millican was already experimenting with
lightweight camping gear, influenced by Thomas Hiram Holding.
A tailor by trade, Holding was using kit weighing just 10 pounds
carried in the poaching pocket of his jacket. For all the progress
and evolution in modern design and construction, that’s a
comparable weight to the kit we’re carrying today. The modern
bikepacker (and, bizarrely, The Camping & Caravanning Club...)
can claim direct descendancy from these early members of the
Association of Cycle Campers, we’re carrying on the mission of
shaving weight from our equipment wherever possible to make
the traversing of mountains that little bit more forgiving without
compromising comfort too much.

“Camping provides the completest possible change from ordinary civilised
town existence and, being the healthiest kind of life, as well as the jolliest
and the most unconventional, is the best antidote to the rush and stress
of city work”, MD.