Mooring on the Monmouth and Brecon Canal

[Bubblebuster]

Are there mooring available on the Monmouth and Brecon Canal?

Thinking seriously about spending our retirement on a narrowboat having spent many past summers on hire boats with the family - so they are nothing new to us. 😉

It might be that we'll have to buy a narrowboat with a mooring of course, or go on a waiting list.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers. 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

22 minutes ago, Bubblebuster said:

Are there mooring available on the Monmouth and Brecon Canal?

Thinking seriously about spending our retirement on a narrowboat having spent many past summers on hire boats with the family - so they are nothing new to us. 😉

It might be that we'll have to buy a narrowboat with a mooring of course, or go on a waiting list.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers. 

 

Residential moorings required then?  Bit different than just continuous cruising and stopping overnight. 

 

Don't know the canal.  Ask C&RT, better from the horses mouth.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Tracy D'arth

[Alan de Enfield]

Seems a bit pointless having a residential boat on the Mon & Brec when you can travel end to end in a day.

Pretty sure you'd soon be fed up of it - why not consider a caravan, at least you can go to new places with it.

[Bubblebuster]

53 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Residential moorings required then?  Bit different than just continuous cruising and stopping overnight. 

 

Don't know the canal.  Ask C&RT, better from the horses mouth.

Thanks for your reply Tracy.

Not full time no, planned to potter up and down and 'park' wherever, just considering where we might leave the boat for more that a couple of days or weeks. Is it not better to have some sort of home base?

[Tracy D'arth]

1 minute ago, Bubblebuster said:

Thanks for your reply Tracy.

Not full time no, planned to potter up and down and 'park' wherever, just considering where we might leave the boat for more that a couple of days or weeks. Is it not better to have some sort of home base?

How can you CC on a canal that is only a day long?  Surely the cc conditions will not allow this?  How can you claim progress around the system when you are in a land locked pond?

How long before you get sick of seeing the same day after day?

[Bubblebuster]

55 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Seems a bit pointless having a residential boat on the Mon & Brec when you can travel end to end in a day.

Pretty sure you'd soon be fed up of it - why not consider a caravan, at least you can go to new places with it.

End to end in a day? Not sure about that.

We are house sitting for one of our daughters who lives near the canal and having walked only part of it...

[Donkey]

..a few years ago we "borrowed" a boat for a week of a friend who was a resident / permanently moored at the "Herons Nest" marina near Llangatock / Crickhowell...

Edited April 21, 2022 by Donkey

[Alan de Enfield]

28 minutes ago, Bubblebuster said:

End to end in a day? Not sure about that.

 

It is ~30 miles end to end.

10 hours (not a particularly long day in the Summer) at 3mph and there you have it.

 

If you only intend to move (say)1 mile a day (one month end to end) then how will you be keeping your batteries charged ?

It is oft suggested that 'on average' you will need to run your engine 4 hours per day and 8 hours at weekends to keep your batteries fully charged. If you are going to sit with the engine running for 4 hours you may as well be moving so that is over 1/3rd of the canal done, and then you need to do the same the next day and the next day, and the ...........

[booke23]

There are three CRT moorings on the Mon and Brec, one of which has space at the moment (only for a 23ft boat though). There is also a boat club, a farm mooring and two marinas on the canal, so plenty of scope to find a leisure mooring. 

[Bubblebuster]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

It is ~30 miles end to end.

10 hours (not a particularly long day in the Summer) at 3mph and there you have it.

 

If you only intend to move (say)1 mile a day (one month end to end) then how will you be keeping your batteries charged ?

It is oft suggested that 'on average' you will need to run your engine 4 hours per day and 8 hours at weekends to keep your batteries fully charged. If you are going to sit with the engine running for 4 hours you may as well be moving so that is over 1/3rd of the canal done, and then you need to do the same the next day and the next day, and the ...........

Solar? 😉

[Tracy D'arth]

2 minutes ago, Bubblebuster said:

Solar? 😉

What about the other 5 months of the year?

[Bubblebuster]

2 hours ago, Donkey said:

..a few years ago we "borrowed" a boat for a week of a friend who was a resident / permanently moored at the "Herons Nest" marina near Llangatock / Crickhowell...

Thanks for that, a bit of optimism at last! 

The Mrs went for a walk along the canal path to there this morning and thought as much so I'll check it out next week as we are back home to west Wales t'morrrow for a few days. 

Cheers.

2 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

What about the other 5 months of the year?

Well they charge slower of course (still daylight during the say in winter last time I looked 🙂) and maybe not enough, so fair point. There again, there are mains plug in points available?  

[Graham Davis]

I suggest that the best thing you can do is get in the car and visit all the mooring spots mentioned above and talk to them. That way you will get a proper answer.

As for using solar along the M & B in the winer, forget it! Much is in shade either from the mountains to the west or the trees that line the canal. And I think the mains hook-up points are for the hire boats only.

[Alan de Enfield]

16 minutes ago, Graham Davis said:

As for using solar along the M & B in the winer, forget it! Much is in shade either from the mountains to the west or the trees that line the canal. And I think the mains hook-up points are for the hire boats only.

 

Some years ago we looked at buying one of the hire companies that were going thru 'tough times'. I thought, at the time, what a 'gloomy' canal it was - a beautiful canal but not renowned for sunlight.

 

It is not a dissimilar problem to many of the canals - they are pretty low down and have miles and miles of cuttings, overgrowing trees, hillsides etc. Solar is great where you can get a good overhead view of the Sun, but there are many areas where you would struggle to get much charge from solar.

[magpie patrick]

Ignore the "end to end in a day" rumours - you are lucky to do 2mph on this canal, one and a half is a good bet.

 

Also, I don't think the OP is planning to cc - they talk of having a home base. 

[Donkey]

6 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

It is ~30 miles end to end.

10 hours (not a particularly long day in the Summer) at 3mph and there you have it.

 

 

 

..you have forgotten to add in all the extra time for the locks   

[Alan de Enfield]

23 minutes ago, Donkey said:

 

..you have forgotten to add in all the extra time for the locks   

No I hadn't, but its not exactly overloaded with locks is it.

[magpie patrick]

3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

No I hadn't, but its not exactly overloaded with locks is it.

But it's not end to end in a day either - it's a very slow canal to cruise (and is 33 miles long Brecon to Pontymoile plus another two to Five Locks in Cwmbran). Add in the locks and it's 20 hours end to end. 

 

Still not exactly lands end to John O"groats but not one day either.

 

Enough for pottering, although I'd agree not enough for "extended cruising" 

[Stroudwater1]

It maybe wise to hire on the canal first to really get a feel if you haven’t done so as it is rather restrictive . It’s down to personality at the end of the day. I know I would get very board living on the M&B but equally that canal will suit many others just fine. 
 

If it all goes wrong at least you can sell up or get the boat lifted off and moved to the main network (or wait 200 years for full restoration to Newport then cruise to Bristol or Sharpness & join the rest of the system) 

[redverdon]

I am choosing to revive this topic in my first post! A long shot I know, but I would be keen to try and find a residential mooring on the M&B starting in September. My boat is 47ft long narrowboat. I currently CC around London but I have secured a place to do a doctorate at the University of South Wales which is in Newport. I would have no problem hiring a lorry of some sort to lift the boat out the water and transport it to the Canal if this was necessary but I need a base from which to travel from with facilities. If not, guess i'll have to keep looking on the Kennet and Avon which seems tough!

[Alan de Enfield]

9 minutes ago, redverdon said:

I would have no problem hiring a lorry of some sort to lift the boat out the water and transport it to the Canal if this was necessary

 

 

It certainly WILL be necessary as the Mon & Brec is an unconnected waterway so the only way to get a boat onto it is either by truck or helicopter.

[doratheexplorer]

20 minutes ago, redverdon said:

I am choosing to revive this topic in my first post! A long shot I know, but I would be keen to try and find a residential mooring on the M&B starting in September. My boat is 47ft long narrowboat. I currently CC around London but I have secured a place to do a doctorate at the University of South Wales which is in Newport. I would have no problem hiring a lorry of some sort to lift the boat out the water and transport it to the Canal if this was necessary but I need a base from which to travel from with facilities. If not, guess i'll have to keep looking on the Kennet and Avon which seems tough!

I'm not sure there are any official residential moorings on the M&B.  One solution is to take a CRT leisure mooring, keep your head down and get your post delivered elsewhere.  The problem is that 90% of the CRT leisure moorings on that canal are shorter than your boat.  https://www.watersidemooring.com/Search?Location=Monmouth&DistanceMiles=50&Coordinates=51.8642%2C-2.2382&tab=list&Availability=Occupied&Waterway=Monmouthshire+%26+Brecon+Canal

 

You might strike lucky if a longer one comes available though.

 

Also consider the Gloucester & Sharpness canal which is mostly under an hour from Newport by road and has far more mooring options and you wouldn't need a lorry to get your boat there.  There's a 60' mooring with leccy currently available, and I'll bet there's liveaboards at those moorings, because they're in a city.  https://www.watersidemooring.com/383-victoria-basin-l1/Vacancies#berth4627

Edited June 23, 2022 by doratheexplorer

[Jonny P]

46 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

I'm not sure there are any official residential moorings on the M&B.  One solution is to take a CRT leisure mooring, keep your head down and get your post delivered elsewhere.  The problem is that 90% of the CRT leisure moorings on that canal are shorter than your boat.  https://www.watersidemooring.com/Search?Location=Monmouth&DistanceMiles=50&Coordinates=51.8642%2C-2.2382&tab=list&Availability=Occupied&Waterway=Monmouthshire+%26+Brecon+Canal

 

You might strike lucky if a longer one comes available though.

 

Also consider the Gloucester & Sharpness canal which is mostly under an hour from Newport by road and has far more mooring options and you wouldn't need a lorry to get your boat there.  There's a 60' mooring with leccy currently available, and I'll bet there's liveaboards at those moorings, because they're in a city.  https://www.watersidemooring.com/383-victoria-basin-l1/Vacancies#berth4627

 

Gloucester seems a good bet. If road transport not available or preferred it's 45 to 50 minutes on the train, two trains an hour, and walkable at both ends. Albeit £3,500 for a season ticket or £18-£22 a day individually. Probably cheaper than road transporting a boat to the M&B and back again.

 

[redverdon]

Thanks to all posters

[stort_mark]

On 21/04/2022 at 12:16, Bubblebuster said:

Are there mooring available on the Monmouth and Brecon Canal?

Thinking seriously about spending our retirement on a narrowboat having spent many past summers on hire boats with the family - so they are nothing new to us. 😉

It might be that we'll have to buy a narrowboat with a mooring of course, or go on a waiting list.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers. 

 

Intrigued to know how this ended up. The M&B is a simply beautiful canal and set in incredibly beautiful countryside, close to some exceptionally pretty towns (Abergavenny, Brecon) and close to a lot of extremely interesting industrial (Clydach Gorge, Blaenavon) and natural (Clydach Gorge again, Bannau Brycheiniog, Usk valley).