Winding at Unofficial Spots

[Midnight Rider]

Just got back from a trip down the Staffs & Worcs as far as Wolverley, where we spent a couple of nights.

 

We needed to stock up with food & drink, so went down to Kidderminster. There is a marked winding hole above Kiddi lock, which is restricted by the fact that the non-towpath side is also marked as moorings. No boats, so I had a go at turning --- no luck, 63ft just won't go --- max 60ft I should think.

 

On we go through the lock & just past there are old wharfs & it's wide enough to wind --- but is it deep enough?

 

The front of the boat went to the offside ok & I thought 'no problem' -- until I reversed to the towpath. I put the boat into forward to complete the turn & it just carried on going back onto mud.

 

Right --- a burst of power & me, the back of the boat & even the back cabin were covered in the black stuff that used to be in the bottom of the canal.

 

I got round, but I don't think I would try it again.

 

By the way, a good meal at the Lock pub at Wolverley to make up for a crap one at the Vine at Kinver which has really gone downhill.

[PhilR]

IME winding is best done without resorting to high engine revs. If the old wharves were on the offside that is probably where the deeper water is ......... and where the stern, rather than the bow, should be?

[stuart23]

This reminds me ( don't know why!!) of an incident a few years ago ...we've a small boat, 30' and we were at Banbury and decided to turn round and go back north, so outside Tooleys we start to turn...there is plenty of space to turn a 30' boat there ...when up pops a lady from the mooring wardens boat who starts ranting on about how we can't turn there....I couldn't see any reason not to turn...but she was so 'insistant' that rather than getting into a slanging match , we went down through the lock, turned round and came back up the lock....great use of water!!!!!

[ditchcrawler]

Just got back from a trip down the Staffs & Worcs as far as Wolverley, where we spent a couple of nights.

 

We needed to stock up with food & drink, so went down to Kidderminster. There is a marked winding hole above Kiddi lock, which is restricted by the fact that the non-towpath side is also marked as moorings. No boats, so I had a go at turning --- no luck, 63ft just won't go --- max 60ft I should think.

 

On we go through the lock & just past there are old wharfs & it's wide enough to wind --- but is it deep enough?

 

The front of the boat went to the offside ok & I thought 'no problem' -- until I reversed to the towpath. I put the boat into forward to complete the turn & it just carried on going back onto mud.

 

Right --- a burst of power & me, the back of the boat & even the back cabin were covered in the black stuff that used to be in the bottom of the canal.

 

I got round, but I don't think I would try it again.

 

By the way, a good meal at the Lock pub at Wolverley to make up for a crap one at the Vine at Kinver which has really gone downhill.

Is it marked by BW as a winding hole?

[Hairy-Neil]

If it achieves the objective of pointing in the other direction without pissing off too many people, then what's the problem.

 

I once got grief for going up the Rugby arm, 'because it's there', despite there being a sign at the main line end inviting boaters for fuel, gas, boatyard services etc. I countered it with, "well I was going to have 100 gallons of diesel off you but now you can GFY"...

 

I've asked before, but does anyone know the legal status of the Rugby (and other arms off the N Oxford) Arm? Is it BW water covered by a cruising license, or is the whole arm leased by the boatyard, not just the mooring rights?

[muddywaters]

Only slightly off topic lol but still concerns winding.

I've always found the ideal place is somewhere that if it looks like you have room to turn give it a go if there are no other boats coming, example I have winded a 32ft boat and a 45ft boat at the services on the Rochdale at Toddy.

Yet last year was a little nervous of winding at the entrance to the Chirk Marina (only because I knew there was a Black Prince boat following and thought it would probably be heading for that marina, turned out they had moored up lol) so passed it and winded at the winding hole a little further on.

But a quick question, winding is one of the maneuvers I have got down to a fine art, so how come no one is ever around when I do.

Have even winded at Trevor on the entrance to the aqueduct to reverse into a space at the Anglo Welsh base, although tbf I did have people watching there and got it perfect even the reversing bit

[Midnight Rider]

IME winding is best done without resorting to high engine revs. If the old wharves were on the offside that is probably where the deeper water is ......... and where the stern, rather than the bow, should be?

No -- the old wharves are on the towpath side & no Ditchcrawler, it is not marked for winding.

[PhilR]

No -- the old wharves are on the towpath side

 

OK. I can appreciate the problem now :-)

 

But, I am somewhat confused as to what the official definition of a winding hole is. For example:

 

My boat is moored 50 yards from an old winding hole. It was originally built as such by the canal company and is shown on old maps. About 30 years ago it was dredged out by BW but became silted up again soon after. About 10 years ago there was a comprehensive dredging program on this section of the canal. I asked the contractors why they weren't dredging the winding hole and they consulted BW. The answer from BW was: *if it isn't shown in Nicholson's don't dredge it*..........

[Midnight Rider]

 

But, I am somewhat confused as to what the official definition of a winding hole is.

And me. As I said in the OP, the official hole above Kiddi lock also invites mooring & the one above Penkridge lock has private moorings at the pointy end.

[magpie patrick]

Sometimes you've no choice, four years ago I was on Ripple in Huddersfield, 62 feet and too long to go through the locks on Sir John Ramsden's (Huddersfield Broad) Canal. Apsley basin was too full of boats for me to turn and the moment I was past it I was on a canal designed for 57 foot boats: we managed to turn by the incinerator above the top lock (having tried to go down the locks, we could go down, but not get the bottom gates open)

[Québec]

There's what looks like a possible unofficial small winding-hole just south of Bridge 12 on the Llangollen. Having passed the official winding hole on our way south to Wrenbury a phone call meant we had to turn back asap. A friend who knows the canal well suggested we could wind our 40' boat there. BIG MISTAKE! We eventually managed to extricate ourselves and had to continue on to Wrenbury anyway. Won't do that again.

[tillergirl]

We've always worked by the provisio - if theres no offical winding hole and we need to wind - if the boat is short enough and the canal is wide enough and we ain't going to annoy anyone coming either way then we wind. Can't see any problem with that.

[NB Alnwick]

We've always worked by the provisio - if theres no offical winding hole and we need to wind - if the boat is short enough and the canal is wide enough and we ain't going to annoy anyone coming either way then we wind. Can't see any problem with that.

 

You can't really argue with that - unfortunately we find that many winding 'oles (both official and unofficial) are badly silted up and this often makes winding tedious - so we choose our routes and cruising plans to allow for this . . .

[tillergirl]

You can't really argue with that - unfortunately we find that many winding 'oles (both official and unofficial) are badly silted up and this often makes winding tedious - so we choose our routes and cruising plans to allow for this . . .

 

That's cos you got a big 'un Graham - boat I mean