Mooring for Stratford-upon-Avon festival

[bridge100]

Hi All

 

We are going to the Stratford River festival on the 2nd July on our Narrowboat

 

Has anyone been before and can advise the best places to moor

 

It seems we can book in for a mooring on the river, which we would consider

Or is it better to moor on the canal, we don't mind walking a couple of miles, or catching a bus, or a taxi to the event

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[john6767]

You need to book to moor on the river, we have done that. It is basically free from the normal cost of a through 7 day river licence.

 

It would suggest that you do that if you are planning to be there for the weekend.

[grannykins]

We went last year - we hadn't actually realized that it was the river festival. Plenty of moorings in Bancroft Basin - we arrived on the Friday evening and left Sunday afternoon. There were vacant moorings in the Basin all weekend. Don't know if we were just lucky, or if you can book moorings in the Basin in advance.

[Mal in Somerset]

We're in Bancroft basin at the moment. There are plenty of boats in but there are still spaces. The basin moorings are 48 hours only (no pre-booking available) and I think this still applies during the festival so if you want to stay for the whole festival you need to book and moor on the river.

 

There are not really any other places to moor on the canal north of Stratford until you reach Wilmcote (these are also mainly 48 hour moorings)

 

There's a regular train service from Wilmcote to Stratford (takes 10 minutes -£2 return).

Edited May 19, 2016 by Mal in Somerset

[ditchcrawler]

The booked moorings are on the river, moored herring bone style stern to the bank, bow pointing down stream. If you do that you are part of it. If you moor in the basin you are only a visitor. I have only been once and moored in the basin, if I go again I will take a mooring. You can't reserve moorings in the basin its just take your chances but arriving mid morning is usually a good bet.

[Horace42]

Bancroft basin is a lovely place to moor. We have been lucky on the few occasions we have visited Stratford-on-Avon. There are a few towpath moorings just before the (very) low bridge at the entrance to the basin. You need a short stay license to go an the Avon. There is an office at the basin that sells them. I don't know about mooring licenses, or about how busy it gets during the river festival.

The memorable thing to us was the large number of pleasure craft (of all sorts) on the Avon, none of which seemed to know anything about 'right-of-way' river codes.

Not that it mattered much to us. My basic boating mantra is "if you are not sure go slow"

Good luck.

[john6767]

Bancroft basin is a lovely place to moor. We have been lucky on the few occasions we have visited Stratford-on-Avon. There are a few towpath moorings just before the (very) low bridge at the entrance to the basin. You need a short stay license to go an the Avon. There is an office at the basin that sells them. I don't know about mooring licenses, or about how busy it gets during the river festival.

The memorable thing to us was the large number of pleasure craft (of all sorts) on the Avon, none of which seemed to know anything about 'right-of-way' river codes.

Not that it mattered much to us. My basic boating mantra is "if you are not sure go slow"

Good luck.

As I said in a earlier post if you want to attend the festival, the fee is the same as a 7 day through licence which is included in the festival booking, so the actual festival is basically free. We will be coming up the Avon, so we have a licence from Tuesday 28th June until Monday 4th July. If you are attending the festival you have to arrive by Friday and can not leave until Monday, because of the way that the boats are moored stern on and rafted up out into the river.

[bridge100]

Thanks for all the replies folks

 

I think we will book a mooring on the river to be sure of a place.

If there is room in Bancroft Basin we might just moor there for 48hrs

 

Cheers all