Moorings on the Weaver Navigation

The Weaver Navigation runs 50 kilometres through Cheshire from Winsford in the south through Northwich and Frodsham to join the Manchester Ship Canal at Weston Point near Runcorn. Originally engineered in the 1730s and subsequently enlarged for commercial salt and chemical traffic, the Weaver is a broad-beam waterway with full commercial-scale locks, suiting wide-beam liveaboards, motor cruisers and the occasional working barge. The navigation is most famous for the spectacular Anderton Boat Lift — a Victorian engineering masterpiece restored in 2002 that lifts boats 15 metres up to the Trent & Mersey Canal, providing the canal's only boatable connection to the lower-level Weaver. For boat owners, the Weaver offers a unique character: peaceful, broad and quiet for a working navigation, threading through the Cheshire 'salt towns' (Northwich, Winsford), with extensive wetland flashes formed by historic salt-mining subsidence supporting outstanding birdlife. Long-stay moorings are available at the Anderton Marina, Northwich Marina (Park Road), Acton Bridge and the Weaver Yacht Club at Frodsham. The Manchester Ship Canal connection at Weston Point gives unusual access to the Mersey for sea-going passages. Liveaboards enjoy peaceful broad-beam cruising with reasonable rail access at Northwich and Runcorn. A genuinely characterful and underrated Cheshire waterway.