A convenient set of visitor moorings on the Grand Union Canal right in the centre of Uxbridge, with mooring rings and bollards and wheelchair-friendly towpath access. Moorings here are limited to 7 days. Handy for provisioning, with shops, cafes, pubs and bus links to the town centre just a short walk away — a natural break point between Cowley Peachey Junction to the south and the approach to Denham and the Colne valley to the north.
Packet Boat Marina is on the Slough Arm of the Grand Union Canal at Cowley, between Uxbridge and West Drayton, just west of Cowley Peachey Junction where the arm leaves the main line. The Slough Arm and the main line towards London are lock-free; Cowley Lock is a short way north. It offers leisure, residential, visitor and winter moorings. Facilities include two 24-hour shower and toilet blocks, laundry, free WiFi, parking, pump-out and diesel, with controlled access and CCTV. There’s a restaurant and bar next door. Operated by Aquavista. Office open Monday to Saturday.
Run by the volunteer-led Rickmansworth Waterways Trust, Batchworth Lock Canal Centre sits right beside Batchworth Lock on the Grand Union Canal, at the point where the River Chess and River Colne meet the waterway. The centre offers a small museum and heritage displays on the canal’s history, an education programme for local schools, and public boat trips along this attractive stretch of canal near Rickmansworth’s Aquadrome. A good introduction to the canal for visitors and families exploring this end of the Grand Union.
Harefield Marina, run by M.J. Musk Marine Sale (Harefield) Ltd, has been a family-run fixture on the Grand Union Canal at Bridge 180 since 1976. Just five minutes from the M25/M40 and within a day’s cruising of the River Thames, the marina offers a well-stocked chandlery, a slipway taking narrowboats from 30ft to 67ft, covered wet-dock storage, hull blacking and anode work, engine servicing, and boat sales and brokerage. A useful stop for maintenance and supplies on the approach into west London.
Run by the Canal & River Trust, The Canal Museum tells the story of Britain’s canal age from a Grade II listed former corn mill right on the Grand Union Canal, next to the top of the Stoke Bruerne flight of locks. Across three floors of exhibits it covers the building of the canals, the working boat families who lived aboard, and the horses, engines and cargoes that kept the network moving. Free entry, with the Boat Inn and canalside walks to the Blisworth Tunnel portal right on the doorstep — a natural focal point for this stretch of the Grand Union.
