Advice for new continuous cruisers

One of the enjoyable parts of our work is welcoming new boaters to our canals and rivers. New boaters often have lots of questions and frequently call or email us for advice.

Image of narrowboat cruising past other boats on the canal

Continuously cruising the canals

One of the most frequently asked questions is where to find out more about continuous cruising. It’s asked so often that we’ve had to create an automatic email response to save us time, although we're always happy to speak on the telephone too if you have any extra questions.

One-stop shop

The main section on our website that you are likely to need as a boater is 'boating'. Here you'll find information on licensing, mooring, planning a cruise, notices and stoppages, and much more.

Cruising in three links

If you’re a new continuous cruiser and haven’t already taken a look at what you need to do before committing to the lifestyle, we would strongly recommend reading the following pages.

How long can I stay?

It may sound surprising but lots of people seem to be unsure about the rules for how long you can stay moored up while out cruising. As a rule of thumb, you can stay anywhere on the towpath for up to 14 days, unless there’s a sign with a time limit, or the mooring position is on a lock landing or next to facilities. You’ll find lots of handy information in the short-stay section of our mooring FAQs page.

News and notices for boaters

Another great source of useful boating information, events and more is the regular Boater’s update enewsletter, which you can sign up to receive.

If you’re intending to continuously cruise around the Greater London area, it’s worth keeping an eye on our London & South East page. There's often useful boating information, as well as local news and events.

And finally check out the other items in our boating team blog, as we cover a wide range of subjects, which we hope are informative and sometimes entertaining too!

If you’ve got a subject you’d like us to cover in a future blog post, contact us and we’ll do our best to oblige.

If you’ve got any questions or concerns, do please pick up the phone and speak to your local licence support officer, the boating team are always happy to help.