Moorings on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation

The Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation runs 22 kilometres from Springfield Basin in Chelmsford to the sea lock at Heybridge Basin, near Maldon, where it meets the tidal River Blackwater. On the way it passes Little Baddow, Ulting and Beeleigh through mostly arable countryside, falling 23 metres through 12 locks.

It is looked after by the Essex Waterways Navigation Trust and its subsidiary Essex Waterways Ltd, part of the Inland Waterways Association, which took on the navigation in 2005. It runs on a non-profit basis without government funding. The sea lock at Heybridge Basin can only be used at certain states of the tide and must be booked in advance, so boats coming in from the Blackwater have to plan their passage around it.

Moorings on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation are let by Essex Waterways at several sites. Heybridge Basin has floating long-term moorings with showers, toilets and electric hook-up, and is the main stop for visiting boats. Upriver there are long-term moorings at Paper Mill Lock in Little Baddow, the busiest point on the navigation and a boat hire base, at Hoe Mill Lock and at Sandford Mill. Springfield Basin in Chelmsford has long-term moorings and a few residential ones, and Lockside Marina at Springfield, reached through a lift bridge, suits river cruisers and smaller narrowboats.