Boat moorings

Using moorings on UK waterways.

Moorings on the waterways fall into different categories:

• Marinas
• British Waterways moorings. (With different facilities and costs)
• Bottom of garden moorings. (This maybe your own garden or land owned by someone else. The charge is 50% of British Waterway's top rate. You may also be charged by the land-owner for access)
• Club Moorings. (You will need to be a member of the club first)

There is a wide choice of moorings available throughout the British Waterways network.

For short and overnight stops, there are very few restrictions - you may tie up in open countryside, or choose one of the increasing number of designated visitor mooring sites.

For people owning their own boat, finding a permanent mooring is very important. Unless you're planning to cruise continuously around the waterways, there's a legal requirement for you to have a place where you can keep the boat while you're not using it for cruising.

The British Waterways website has a database of over 1,000 different permanent mooring sites around the network, ranging from very small 'farmers' field' or towpath sites through to fully serviced marinas.

The great majority of moorings are provided by private companies or boat clubs. The rest are managed by British Waterways' local offices.