Mooring along the Northampton arm

[grockell]

Hi,

 

Traveling to Northampton Marina for the 1st December. Wanted to get past the flight of locks along the Northampton arm to the moor up for the remaining time beyond the flight.

 

I'm going to have a walk up there today. But just wondering if anyone had any advice on good/bad places to moor up for a two week period? 

 

Cheers

 

George

[DaveP]

There is pretty much no mooring available on the arm below the main bunch of locks; channel is narrow and overgrown and the bank is not in any way reinforced.  Right at the bottom, space for 3-4 boats outside the flats.

[matty40s]

9 hours ago, DaveP said:

There is pretty much no mooring available on the arm below the main bunch of locks; channel is narrow and overgrown and the bank is not in any way reinforced.  Right at the bottom, space for 3-4 boats outside the flats.

..

And bear in mind that that the towpath at that space was underwater last Thursday(yes, above the lock) , along with the Morrisons mooring being a speeding maelstrom.

Edited November 21, 2019 by matty40s

[GUMPY]

Near Northampton
https://maps.app.goo.gl/rSRZG3VGU6XyXUoV6

Is where we normally stop but the housing has increased since we were last there

Anywhere closer to the town can be a bit dodgey

The river is playing up at the moment!

[nbfiresprite]

The section of the arm at the bottom of the main flight by the A43 bridge is a good place to moor. Deep water, Bankside steel reinforced. And if you do run short on Christmas day the M1 services are open 24/7, 10 minuite walk away.

[GUMPY]

That's just before my spot but closer to the noisy road

[MoominPapa]

1 hour ago, nbfiresprite said:

The section of the arm at the bottom of the main flight by the A43 bridge is a good place to moor. Deep water, Bankside steel reinforced. And if you do run short on Christmas day the M1 services are open 24/7, 10 minuite walk away.

The field between the cut and the A43 is now a building site.

 

MP.

 

[blackrose]

21 hours ago, DaveP said:

There is pretty much no mooring available on the arm below the main bunch of locks; channel is narrow and overgrown and the bank is not in any way reinforced.  Right at the bottom, space for 3-4 boats outside the flats.

 

If you're talking about the Northampton embankment moorings in front of the flats near Morrison's I think it can accommodate a few more narrowboats than that. I'm sure there's space for at least 3 or 4 on each side of the bridge. 

 

That's one side:

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/bzoJ592NaSNg87Lj7

 

Edited November 22, 2019 by blackrose

[DaveP]

2 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

If you're talking about the Northampton embankment moorings in front of the flats near Morrison's I think it can accommodate a few more narrowboats than that. I'm sure there's space for at least 3 or 4 on each side of the bridge. 

 

That's one side:

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/bzoJ592NaSNg87Lj7

 

I'm not talking about the river moorings - the ones above lock 17, before descending onto the Nene.

[grockell]

19 hours ago, matty40s said:

..

And bear in mind that that the towpath at that space was underwater last Thursday(yes, above the lock) , along with the Morrisons mooring being a speeding maelstrom.

Wow! that's incredible. I took a walk down there yesterday and it looked absolutely fine. I would never have known it had flooded that much!

[grockell]

5 hours ago, DaveP said:

I'm not talking about the river moorings - the ones above lock 17, before descending onto the Nene.

I saw where you meant. There was one space left there yesterday. I should be able to bang out the Northampton Arm and get to Northampton marina in 4-5 hours from where I am now, so I'll just wait until moving in day and just pass through.

Looks a really nice stretch, I have a strange appreciation for areas that are a combination of countrysidey/wild areas and industrial areas/roads. 

[blackrose]

9 hours ago, DaveP said:

I'm not talking about the river moorings - the ones above lock 17, before descending onto the Nene.

Ok, thanks for clarifying.

[Peter X]

A few years ago, while I was helping to move a boat from March (the town not the month) to west London, we moored one night between locks 13 and 12 of the arm, in what I think was the spot mentioned in post #5 by nbfiresprite. We didn't need shopping, we'd got enough supplies on our way up the Nene.

It did have a bit of noise from the adjacent main road and the M1 beyond it, but was otherwise OK.

 

Or as said, if you want to get down from the GU to Northampton marina in one go, 4-5 hours should be enough to do the 17 locks and few miles involved. As the first 12 locks are close together, going down them remember to begin to fill each of locks 2-12 before you empty the lock above, especially if someone's gone down ahead of you.