Define: TURNOVER BRIDGE
On English canals the towpath frequently changes sides. And, of course, at canal junctions, by definition, it does it twice. There are always bridges at junctions, for otherwise how could the towing horse or the BOWHAULER, have pulled the boat around from the other side to the new canal? (Well, OK, you could have had a ferry, but that's silliness-intensive.)
Where the towpath crosses the canal, the old canal builders put a turnover bridge. The spiritual gypsy would prefer the older name: ROVING BRIDGE, perhaps a more romantic sentiment.
Some of them can be astonishingly, poetically, sinuous and curvaceous. I love the lovingly winding turnover bridges of the Macclesfield Canal, where a horse of old could be walked from one side to another without detaching the towing rope. I can't find a link to a good picture of such a bridge at the moment; no matter, I have some wonderful photos myself somewhere, and will find them in good course.
You might prefer the other term: crossover bridge. That one smacks of the road planner to me, and doesn't get a link in my glossary.
Talking of crossovers and road planners reminds me of modern road flyovers. And did you know there are canal flyovers? There really are. But does the brand new industrial strength no-nonsense Wasserstraßenkreuz Magdeburg really have any of the organic and delicate charm of the Poole Aqueduct of 1831, where the Macclesfield crosses over the Trent & Mersey?
Rhetorical question.
