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Birmingham City Centre


Robster

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Hi,

Regular hirer here - we've been hiring for the last 20 years - just havent quite got round to buying a boat!

Anyway, in that 20 years, we've never moored in Birmingham city centre - but we plan to do so whilst doign the Warwickshire ring this Easter.

My question is how busy are the moorings likely to be - and will I need to get there extra early? I'll be setting out from Turners Green, 18 miles and 20 locks away, so it will be a bit of a full-on day.

Thoughts?

 

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As Nick says above, there is nearly always somewhere to moor. Another place that might not be quietest but we've moored before is just along from ICC (under Brewmasters bridge). No signs but bollards to moor to so we just assume it's 14 days. 

Talking of 14 days, mooring does seem more difficult since the introduction of more 14 day moorings in the centre. 

Another place we would be tempted to moor if no other spaces, is the old turn end of the very long reserved mooring stretch for trip boats leading from handmade burger company. Don't see why the trip boats need such a long stretch of reserved mooring there, and never seen the end moorings in use. 

Hope that's not given away all our mooring secrets so there's no space for us next time! We do like mooring in the centre, particularly at night which is when we normally arrive. 

Tom

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My personal favourite moorings are Cambrian Wharf. A little noisy from the pub on weekend evenings, and if you've a full length boat you may need to use a mudweight off the stern because of shorter pontoons- but I love it. And you can take a nice photo of your boat from the Library top floor.

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I'd put my neck on the line and say that the odds are that you will be able to find somewhere to moor in the city centre. My recent experience (I'm there now) has been principally out of season and we've always found a good mooring but back when we unwisely had a timeshare (not a part share) we came down here from Alvecote marina in June 2004 and even then mooring was no problem. The hire boats that come down here during the season will be trying to cover some fair distance so wont normally be moored in the City Centre for long, and us liveaboards would tend to avoid the City Centre during the main holiday season. In fairness to Birmingham, there is quite a lot of available mooring in the the City Centre stretching from Granville Street bridge all the way through to Vincent Street Bridge including part of the Oozells Street loop and the bit of the Birmingham and Fazeley down to the top of Farmers Locks.

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40 minutes ago, FadeToScarlet said:

My personal favourite moorings are Cambrian Wharf. A little noisy from the pub on weekend evenings, and if you've a full length boat you may need to use a mudweight off the stern because of shorter pontoons- but I love it. And you can take a nice photo of your boat from the Library top floor.

Only managed to find a space there once, next for us is behind the Sea Life Centre 

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4 hours ago, Robster said:

Hi,

Regular hirer here - we've been hiring for the last 20 years - just havent quite got round to buying a boat!

Anyway, in that 20 years, we've never moored in Birmingham city centre - but we plan to do so whilst doign the Warwickshire ring this Easter.

My question is how busy are the moorings likely to be - and will I need to get there extra early? I'll be setting out from Turners Green, 18 miles and 20 locks away, so it will be a bit of a full-on day.

Thoughts?

 

Go just before or just after easter. The hire fleet here is way cheaper either side of the holiday and the cruising will be much better. As a general rule never boating on bank holidays is the way to go, my boat will stay securely tied up, we are going away next week and be back before easter.

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5 hours ago, Tom and Bex said:

As Nick says above, there is nearly always somewhere to moor. Another place that might not be quietest but we've moored before is just along from ICC (under Brewmasters bridge). No signs but bollards to moor to so we just assume it's 14 days. 

Talking of 14 days, mooring does seem more difficult since the introduction of more 14 day moorings in the centre. 

Another place we would be tempted to moor if no other spaces, is the old turn end of the very long reserved mooring stretch for trip boats leading from handmade burger company. Don't see why the trip boats need such a long stretch of reserved mooring there, and never seen the end moorings in use. 

Hope that's not given away all our mooring secrets so there's no space for us next time! We do like mooring in the centre, particularly at night which is when we normally arrive. 

Tom

We Moored right opposite the burger company. Was pleasantly surprised that all though midweek, we was complete silence at night.

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Edited by thebfg
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We once arrived in Birmingham around 11pm only to find a large section of moorings taped off as there was a dragon boat race the next day.

 

After investigating it was realised that as we were going to be moving off again first thing we would not inconvenience anyone by using a mooring.

 

I would also say that there seems to be a desire to find a "quiet" mooring. While I completely understand that everyone wants a peaceful nights sleep if someone is after a quiet mooring then a city centre is not the place to find it. What you will find is a wonderful vibrant city which comes with a certain amount of activity = noise.

 

One of my favourite impromtu parties was when we moored in Brum on the night that GB won all those gold medals in the London Olympics. There was a huge screen by the Mail Box  showing the events live and the balconies and bridge there were filled with people enjoying a night out in the city celebrating our countries achievements. We were moored just at the base of that bridge. We had a great party with the folks on neighbouring boats, it was not quiet!

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9 hours ago, Tom and Bex said:

As Nick says above, there is nearly always somewhere to moor. Another place that might not be quietest but we've moored before is just along from ICC (under Brewmasters bridge). No signs but bollards to moor to so we just assume it's 14 days. 

Talking of 14 days, mooring does seem more difficult since the introduction of more 14 day moorings in the centre. 

Another place we would be tempted to moor if no other spaces, is the old turn end of the very long reserved mooring stretch for trip boats leading from handmade burger company. Don't see why the trip boats need such a long stretch of reserved mooring there, and never seen the end moorings in use. 

Hope that's not given away all our mooring secrets so there's no space for us next time! We do like mooring in the centre, particularly at night which is when we normally arrive. 

Tom

Next to the mooring on the bollards under Brewmasters Bridge is a long railing which I've never seen tied to but could be used as a last resort. 

The last trip boat mooring before the Sea Life centre is allocated to Away Group and is actually for their service boat (coal, Gas, diesel). They haven't used it for about five years because the amount it cost to employ someone to sit on the boat all day wasn't cost effective. 

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In the past I've commented on here that there are always moorings to be found. That's still true, but it also true that it's getting tougher. Reasons are:

1.  Steady increase in cc'ers over the last few years. Five years ago, you'd see around 3 or 4 cc'ers in the city centre over winter. Now it's well into double figures (15? 20?). Some haven't gone any further than the Vale this winter. I don't know how they're avoiding enforcement. 

2.  More 'events'. In particular the floating markets, which drastically reduce available space on busy weekends. 

3.  Fewer VMs. The Sherbourne boats at the Fiddle and Bone have taken up useful space. Although there are now a few rings beyond Granville Street Bridge, we could do with some past St Vincent St Bridge too. 

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11 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Go just before or just after easter. The hire fleet here is way cheaper either side of the holiday and the cruising will be much better. As a general rule never boating on bank holidays is the way to go, my boat will stay securely tied up, we are going away next week and be back before easter.

Sadly with two school age children (one doing GCSE's this year) and a wife who is a teacher, I'm pretty much tied to school holidays!

 

Thanks for your replies everyone - sounds like it's a defo overnight stop for us. I'm currently training for a marathon and I have to get a long training run in that day (18 miles)....the irony is is that the day we do that leg I will run further than we travel on the boat!

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24 minutes ago, Robster said:

Oh - one more question - if I end up in Oozells loop, or by the ICC, am I able to turn to get down to Farmers Bridge Locks, or go round the loop to get back - or am I just looking at a length reverse?

Unless you have a very short boat it's difficult to turn right off the end of the loop to get back to FB locks. However if you turn left and chug along for a short distance, you soon come to monument road basin where you can wind, or a little further to Icknield port loop, ditto. Or you could reverse of course.

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1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

Unless you have a very short boat it's difficult to turn right off the end of the loop to get back to FB locks. However if you turn left and chug along for a short distance, you soon come to monument road basin where you can wind, or a little further to Icknield port loop, ditto. Or you could reverse of course.

I'd say the max length which can turn right from the west end of the Oozels St loop would be about 45'.

 

If, however, you moor at Holliday Wharf or beyond on the W&B, facing south, your next winding hole is the Vale, about 1.5 miles away.  Or reverse to Salvage Turn, by the Mailbox.

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Be aware that a fun passtime for the local yoof is casting off moored boats.

As a deterrent try wrapping your lines around bollards and take the end of the rope back onboard. A cable tie tightened around the rope and/or bollard helps too.

(As an aside however did the world manage before cable ties were invented? I first came across them at the pit where electricians used then, oddly enough, for tieing up cables)

It's not as if you are on a river so being untied in the middle of the night is no big deal, it's just a bit of an embuggerance to have to get out of bed, in the rain, and remoor the boat.

ETA Please don't let this put you off mooring in Brum, it's great. Our mooring of choice is round the back of the Sealife Centre, on the Oozells Loop. There is room for about 4 boats, with rings to tie to, CCTV coverage and security men patrolling every hour or so. It is not one of the locations where we have been cast adrift.

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3 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

Be aware that a fun passtime for the local yoof is casting off moored boats.

As a deterrent try wrapping your lines around bollards and take the end of the rope back onboard. A cable tie tightened around the rope and/or bollard helps too.

(As an aside however did the world manage before cable ties were invented? I first came across them at the pit where electricians used then, oddly enough, for tieing up cables)

It's not as if you are on a river so being untied in the middle of the night is no big deal, it's just a bit of an embuggerance to have to get out of bed, in the rain, and remoor the boat.

Also more likely to happen if you are moored past where the CCTV stops on the Main Line, mooring at the Old Turn end is better if possible.

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Just now, john6767 said:

Also more likely to happen if you are moored past where the CCTV stops on the Main Line, mooring at the Old Turn end is better if possible.

Yes. That's where we have been cast off, twice. The third time was opposite the Cube on the W & B.

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4 hours ago, Robster said:

Brilliant - thank you!

Just notices, I could actually book an overnight at Sherborne Wharf to be 100% guaranteed of a mooring - not sure if it's worthwhile or not...

I was quoted £15 per night last month

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Now tied up on the mainline, pretty quiet but of course there are a good few Winter Moorers at Cambrian wharf, they should be gone after 31st March. 4 boats on the mainline this side of Sheepcote at, one boat at the end of the W&B and 2 at salvage wharf.

I've found before that Birmingham can be variable according to the day of the week, to do with the hire boat schedules. I seem to recall Tuesday is always a busy day, but the locals (Dave_P) will have a better idea. You don't say which day you'll arrive. 

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9 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

I've found before that Birmingham can be variable according to the day of the week, to do with the hire boat schedules. I seem to recall Tuesday is always a busy day, but the locals (Dave_P) will have a better idea. You don't say which day you'll arrive. 

I'll be arriving on the Monday.

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