Highwayman's Hitch

Colin wanted to show us his favourite knot, a highwayman's hitch.

'What's that?' asked Sid.

'The name should tell you', said Colin. ' Imagine you're a highwayman in days of old. You'd want to tie your horse up somewhere secure, but if the law showed up, you'd want to be able to untie it quickly. There are a couple of similar knots, but this is probably the original one. Cowboys in the wild west would have used a similar knot to tie their horse to a hitching rail'.

'We've got some rope but we haven't got a handy hitching rail. Sid can you find us something to use please.'

A few moments later Sid was back.  With a spice jar! 

"Oh Sid! You had to pick the garlic granules!' laughed Colin. 'Ok, let's start.'

'The long, standing part of the rope is the horse's rein and the short end is the release.' Feed a loop around the post.'

 'Pull it right over to the front.'

  'Now feed a second loop from the horse side (the standing part) up through the first loop.'

  

'And pull the first loop tight.'

  

'Then feed a third loop up from the release end through the second loop.'

  

 'Pull on the standing part to tighten the knot.'

  

'There it is. We can pretend to be a horse and pull as hard as we can and the knot won't undo'.

  

'Go on, pull,' said Jade, taking hold of the release.

 

'Pull harder,' said Jade, pulling the release. 

 

The rope came undone  and Colin and the others fell over. 'There you are,' laughed Colin. It really works!'