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Evening all!

Reading various posts it seems the general wisdom is that stopping between Catherine de Barnes and Curdworth is not advisable, except perhaps at Star City? So a couple of questions-

1 - do you/can you book a mooring at Star City?

2 - if full are there any alternatives? 

3 - Which part of Curdworth specifically is good before/after the locks etc? 

Cheers,

Bernie

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Seem to remember, and someone please correct me if Im wrong , the moorings at Star City are large enough for 3 or so boats . The gates are locked by the canoe instructors but can be jumped over by the locals . When we moored there a few came over the gates for a 'smoke ' but were fine , not interested in us at all . Peaceful night . Unlikely to be full , but if they were I'd  ask to breast up. Bunny 

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3 minutes ago, Bunny said:

Seem to remember, and someone please correct me if Im wrong , the moorings at Star City are large enough for 3 or so boats . The gates are locked by the canoe instructors but can be jumped over by the locals . When we moored there a few came over the gates for a 'smoke ' but were fine , not interested in us at all . Peaceful night . Unlikely to be full , but if they were I'd  ask to breast up. Bunny 

The gate can be opened by the standard CRT key

 

Edited by tree monkey
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We were there a couple of weeks ago, there is room for 3 or 4 medium length boats. The place was empty when we arrived at about 7 pm, except for a CRT workboat. I think you can reasonably rely on getting moored there, even if you have to breast up or moor just off the South end of the pontoons (it's deep there). The only time we've found it full was in winter when the 24hr mooring reverts to 14 day and a gaggle of CCers had moved in, or when the BCN 24hr challenge is on (end of May). We still got moored though.

Once you leave Minworth village behind you can reasonably moor - there is a pub shortly before Curdworth which is a popular mooring spot (piling, not visitor moorings) and then you have the "official" visitor moorings in Curdworth which are in a cutting and rather gloomy IMO, of carry on to shortly before Curdworth top lock. A bit noisy with the M6 toll feeder, but it quietens down at night. Be careful at the start of Curdworth tunnel, it's easy to scrape the handrails especially if the level is up a bit.

Once on the lock flight, 1st pound is shallow at the sides. It's safe to moor about 5 locks down and beyond, but noisy with the M42 for the next few locks. Most people stop at the hotel just above the 8th lock, or at the Dog in Doublet just below that lock. The nicest moorings (if you like "rural") are just beyond the bottom lock.

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Oh and your question (2) - you could also moor at the top of Camp Hill just beyond the services. A bit grotty, but I think it's fairly safe as there is no public access. If you did find you couldn't moor at Star City and were desperate, you could turn left and left again (heading towards Aston locks) and moor at cuckoo wharf. It would however mean reversing a couple of hundred yards back to Salford Jn the next morning. Cuckoo wharf isn't really secure, but it does have a couple of permanent moorings so I guess it must be reasonably safe.

Edited by nicknorman
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12 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Oh and your question (2) - you could also moor at the top of Camp Hill just beyond the services. A bit grotty, but I think it's fairly safe as there is no public access. If you did find you couldn't moor at Star City and were desperate, you could turn left and left again (heading towards Aston locks) and moor at cuckoo wharf. It would however mean reversing a couple of hundred yards back to Salford Jn the next morning. Cuckoo wharf isn't really secure, but it does have a couple of permanent moorings so I guess it must be reasonably safe.

Further up the Aston flight there are secure offside visitor moorings alongside the business park

Richard

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2 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Further up the Aston flight there are secure offside visitor moorings alongside the business park

Richard

True, but if you are going CdeB to Curdworth via Star City, that is a fairly major diversion and a very long reverse! It's called Crystal Wharf I think.

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For me, the main reason not to moor between Catherine de Barnes and Camp Hill top lock (the visitor moorings are very good - quiet and with access to the service block) is there are no nice moorings. Most of it is in a cutting with a hard towpath

Richard

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35 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Oh and your question (2) - you could also moor at the top of Camp Hill just beyond the services. A bit grotty, but I think it's fairly safe as there is no public access. If you did find you couldn't moor at Star City and were desperate, you could turn left and left again (heading towards Aston locks) and moor at cuckoo wharf. It would however mean reversing a couple of hundred yards back to Salford Jn the next morning. Cuckoo wharf isn't really secure, but it does have a couple of permanent moorings so I guess it must be reasonably safe.

You don't have to reverse.  There are 2 arms on the left handside that you canned to turn.

1 minute ago, pearley said:

You don't have to reverse.  There are 2 arms on the left handside towards the bottom lock that you can use to turn.

 

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1 minute ago, pearley said:

You don't have to reverse.  There are 2 arms on the left handside that you canned to turn.

 

I have often wondered about the history of those arms

We turned in one of them once, I was very wary about just how much depth of water there was in there

Richard

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10 minutes ago, pearley said:

You don't have to reverse.  There are 2 arms on the left handside that you canned to turn.

 

I've never tried, but someone did, with a shortish boat. It was a struggle but they made it. Thing is, when you explore the edges of a BCN channel you stand a pretty good chance of getting something nasty on the prop. Have you actually turned there? I think I'd prefer to reverse!

10 minutes ago, RLWP said:

I have often wondered about the history of those arms

We turned in one of them once, I was very wary about just how much depth of water there was in there

Richard

Well I guess if TO can turn there, so should we be able to (we are 10' shorter). Maybe pull / pole it round rather than using the prop!

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15 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

I've never tried, but someone did, with a shortish boat. It was a struggle but they made it. Thing is, when you explore the edges of a BCN channel you stand a pretty good chance of getting something nasty on the prop. Have you actually turned there? I think I'd prefer to reverse!

Well I guess if TO can turn there, so should we be able to (we are 10' shorter). Maybe pull / pole it round rather than using the prop!

From memory Tawny Owl only went about 2/3 in. Think it was Dowlers Arm

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There is a big bump in Curdworth tunnel wall just at the right height to get the handrail only about a couple of yards from the Birmingham end. I have often moored at Star City and next morning dropped back to the junction to carry on my journey. Just take care lining up with the stop lock when going backwards

star city moorings to junction.JPG

star city moorings.JPG

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12 hours ago, nicknorman said:

I've never tried, but someone did, with a shortish boat. It was a struggle but they made it. Thing is, when you explore the edges of a BCN channel you stand a pretty good chance of getting something nasty on the prop. Have you actually turned there? I think I'd prefer to reverse!

Well I guess if TO can turn there, so should we be able to (we are 10' shorter). Maybe pull / pole it round rather than using the prop!

Yes, we have turned in the one nearest to Cuckoo Wharf 2 or 3 times. However, last time was a couple of years or more ago and I did see earlier this year that the budellia is now almost blocking the entrance.

"Blue Book" shows first arm as 'Carters' leading to Aston Coach Iron Works. 2nd as 'Dowlers' leading to an asphalt works and a 3rd unnamed one leading to the Essex Works producing radiation gas fires.

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39 minutes ago, Dave Payne said:

Looks like one of the arms went a fair bit further and to a basin..

 

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=52.5046&lon=-1.8701&layers=168&b=1

 

I missed that when looking at the 'Blue Book'. Looking on Google maps you can see the outline of the arm onmthe other side of Plume Street, together with a building that looks like it fronted the basin. On Streetview the brick wall which would be a bridge parapet shows signs of the fire hose access doors, now bricked in.

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