moorings
search for moorings
For a trial period, British Waterways is advertising vacancies on its own directly managed long term mooring sites here on waterscape.com and allocating them by tender. View moorings which are currently available. It’s very simple to submit a tender online for any current vacancy.
For moorings provided by other site operators, use our quick search, located in the top right hand corner of the page. Select ‘Moorings’ from the drop down list and then search via postcode, town, county or waterway. Please note, this search includes sites run by other operators and does not carry details of availability.
why do I need a mooring?
You won't be able to get a licence for your boat until you have a mooring arranged (the only exception is if you're planning to cruise non-stop). Moorings are in short supply in many areas of the country, so it's important that you should find one as soon as you can.
Waterscape.com has details on many moorings around the waterway system. You can also contact the relevant navigation authority direct (details at bottom of page).
what sort of moorings are available?
There are hundreds of mooring sites across Britain – from fully serviced marinas to simple spots on the towpath. Finding one should be an immediate priority once you've decided to buy a boat, because until you have agreed a mooring, your new boat will have to remain on dry land.
Many moorings are provided by private companies, typically in marinas. The navigation authorities have bankside moorings on offer and you can also consider joining, and mooring with, a boat club. These offer a strong sense of community and can often provide cheaper moorings because club members share maintenance tasks between them.
Be prepared to look around. Moorings are usually priced according to boat length and market demand, and there are waiting lists in some popular locations - particularly London, the south of England and the southern Midlands. For secondhand boat buyers, existing mooring rights do not usually come with the boat.
continuously cruising
You will not usually be issued with a licence unless you have a permanent mooring. However, if you have no ties (such as jobs or children at school), you can opt to cruise the canals non-stop, never staying at the same place for more than a fortnight. British Waterways has a special set of guidelines for such boaters.
When you are on the move and looking for overnight stopping places, you may moor up on canal towpaths free of charge. There may be a small fee on some rivers, such as the Thames.
british waterways canals and rivers
BW runs most canals, and the rivers Trent, Yorkshire Ouse, Witham, Weaver, Severn, Lee and Stort. Its ten local offices each have the latest information on mooring availability. You can find their contact details listed under 'Contact Info' for each waterway on Waterscape.com.
For general information on BW moorings, including application forms and a summary list of mooring prices, visit our Useful Downloads page.
environment agency rivers
The Environment Agency runs the rivers Thames, Nene, Great Ouse, Medway, Welland, Glen and Ancholme. You can find more details on the Environment Agency website, or for the River Thames, at Visit Thames.
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