Moorings on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal

The Worcester & Birmingham Canal runs 48 kilometres from Diglis Basin on the River Severn at Worcester northward through Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove and the suburbs of Birmingham to terminate at the iconic Gas Street Basin in the city centre. The canal is famous for two extraordinary engineering features: the Tardebigge flight of 30 locks — the longest lock flight on any canal in Britain — and the four-mile climb from Stoke Wharf to the summit pound at Tardebigge, which collectively raise the canal 130 metres up from the Severn Vale to the West Midlands plateau. For boat owners, the Worcester & Birmingham is therefore a serious cruise rather than a casual one, but the rewards are substantial: dramatic countryside between the locks, the deep cutting and pretty village of Alvechurch, the Wast Hills Tunnel (2.7 km, the second-longest navigable on the network) and a magnificent finale at Gas Street where you moor in the heart of Birmingham's redeveloped canal quarter. Long-stay moorings are available at Diglis Basin Marina (Worcester), Stoke Wharf, Tardebigge Old Wharf, Alvechurch Marina, Hopwood Park and Sherborne Wharf in central Birmingham. The canal forms a key piece of the popular Stourport Ring and Avon Ring cruising routes. Rail at Worcester, Bromsgrove and central Birmingham gives strong connectivity for liveaboards.