We did it! We turned the way we planned! Wow.
First of all, we had to turn around to go back to Wigrams Turn. We have often blogged about turning around, or in canal speak, winding. Not wind like twine, but wind, like binned. Wind, as in moving air. And that's where the name comes from. In the horse towing boating days, boats would take advantage of the wind to push the boat another direction with the aid of a (wait for it), winding hole. Otherwise known as a triangle cut out of the offside of the canal.
The deal is this: point the bow into the point of the triangle, gently wedge the bow into the corner, set the tiller to make the stern move the desired direction, set the engine to slow ahead, then watch the boat turn. At a key point, reverse, letting the boat move back into the main canal. Don't bang the stern into the towpath side (!). Sometimes it takes a few forward and reverse efforts, but today, Captain Gray was at his most skilled. The pics show the routine.
Elizabeth descended back to the cabin to code data at the desk and Cap'n Pete took us back north on the Oxford, then west at Wigrams turn onto the Grand Union towards Warwick. Elizabeth emerged for the Calcut flight of three wide locks and we're now moored just short of the top of the Stockton flight.
A loveley Autumn day glows all around us.
