Rough-Stuff Fellowship, The Archive

On one Sunday in May of 1955, about “Forty members who, in pursuit of their pastime, traverse the rougher and less beaten ways” attended the inaugural meeting of the Rough-Stuff Fellowship in Leominster, England. The club was founded the year before when founder W.H. (Bill) Paul and several other cyclists who rather enjoyed “traversing the rougher ways” put out a call to entry. By 1956, the RSF had 165 members, and to this day it remains the oldest off road club in the world.

Last year, RSF quietly started an Instagram account for “Unearthing, Collating & Sharing 60+ Years Of The Rough-Stuff Fellowship.” As of September, they’ve have ramped up scanning original 35mm slides from the RSF archive. Make sure to follow @RSFarchive to see what inspired bikepacking as we know it.

Images on this post are copyrighted material from the RSF Archive and were used with their permission…

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