Moorings on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal

The Gloucester & Sharpness Canal was built in the 1820s to bypass one of the most treacherous sections of the tidal River Severn — and at 28 kilometres long and uniquely wide, it was once the largest ship canal in the world. Today, this Canal & River Trust waterway runs from Gloucester Docks south to Sharpness, where lock gates open onto the Severn Estuary and access to the Bristol Channel. For boat owners, it offers something rare on the UK network: a properly broad waterway, capable of taking wide-beam vessels, motor cruisers and even small coasters, with no locks at all between Gloucester and Sharpness. Long-stay moorings are available at Gloucester Docks (a magnificent Victorian basin redeveloped with restaurants, the Waterways Museum and the National Soldiers Museum), Saul Junction Marina (where the partially restored Stroudwater Navigation branches off), Frampton on Severn and Sharpness Docks. Saul Junction is one of the most popular liveaboard hubs in the South West, with full facilities, an active community and easy cruising in both directions. The canal passes through gentle Severn Vale countryside with the Cotswold escarpment to the east and the Forest of Dean across the river to the west. Rail at Gloucester gives direct trains to Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham and London — rare for a waterway this rural in feel. A practical, characterful liveaboard waterway.