Before you tie up: read the bank and the rules

Mooring well starts before you've picked up the hammer. On most of the network you're allowed to moor on the towpath side for up to fourteen days unless signs say otherwise, but that default is a starting point, not a licence to stop wherever looks pretty. Look for the little notices: many popular stretches have visitor moorings limited to forty-eight hours or even twenty-four, and some have marked rings, bollards or specific lengths that must not be exceeded.

There are also places you should never settle in, however tired you are. These include lock landings, water points, sanitary stations, winding holes, bridge holes, junctions and tight bends where your boat would narrow the channel or block a sightline. Boaters coming round a corner at dusk will not thank you for a rope across their path. If in doubt, carry on to the next clear stretch rather than convincing yourself it will be fine until morning.

Spacing: give your neighbour room to breathe

The single most common friction point is boat-to-boat distance. Where space allows, leave at least a couple of metres between your bow or stern and the next boat, and more on a busy stretch so that others can squeeze in. Nobody enjoys being breasted up against an unfamiliar hull without being asked first, so never raft up unless you have knocked and had a friendly yes.

Bear in mind what your neighbours need. A boat with a stern gland or a leaky front well may need to get in and out easily; a working boat may need to run its engine; a hire boat may have a crew of eight arriving back late. If you are the last boat to arrive in a full line, tuck in neatly rather than leaving an odd half-gap that no one else can use. A little forethought keeps the whole line cordial.

Pins, ropes and the state of the bank

A tidy mooring is a safe mooring. Drive pins in at roughly forty-five degrees, angled away from the boat, at least a metre or so out from the hull where the ground permits, and use a proper mooring hammer rather than a club hammer that will bend the pin or shatter the handle. Two pins fore and two aft, with a spring line if you are staying a while, will hold you through passing boats and a rising river far better than one rope and hope.

Keep ropes visible. A slack line drooping into the water is a hazard to propellers; a tight line across the towpath is a trip hazard for walkers, cyclists and the postman. Where you can, run lines low and close to the boat, and avoid tying off to trees, fences or other people's pins without asking. Leave the bank as you found it, with no hammer marks on the coping and no holes in the grass where a pin has been yanked out.

Noise, engines and generators

Sound travels over water, and a diesel ticking over at seven in the morning carries further than you think. As a working rule, run engines for battery charging between about eight in the morning and eight in the evening, and keep it to the hours you genuinely need. If you must run a generator, site it as far from neighbouring boats as possible, point the exhaust away from their open windows, and consider whether a solar panel or a longer cruise would serve instead.

After dark, voices and music carry. Keep late-night conversation on the towpath low, dim screens and head torches where they won't shine into a neighbour's cabin, and remember that some boaters are up at five for work. A friendly wave in the morning goes a long way towards forgiving a bit of evening noise.

Sharing water points, bins and sanitary stations

Shared facilities are exactly that: shared. At a water point, fill up, stow the hose neatly and move on — don't treat the spot as a mooring for the afternoon. Never leave a hose snaking across the towpath unattended, and rinse the tap area if you splash it. At a sanitary station, use the facilities properly, including the elsan disposal, and don't leave bags or cassettes lying about for the next boater to step over.

Rubbish should go in the bins provided or be carried away with you, and bulky items should be taken to a proper waste site rather than left beside an overflowing bin. If a bin is full, that is not permission to add to the pile; it is a sign to take your bag to the next one.

Visitor moorings, time limits and busy stretches

On popular canals in summer, especially near villages, pubs and flight locks, the courtesy is to keep moving and to respect time limits even when no one is watching. If you arrive at a full visitor mooring, it is rarely acceptable to stay beyond the posted limit on the grounds that you got there first — the whole point of short-stay moorings is to share the best spots around. If you need longer, look for a stretch with a fourteen-day limit and leave the honey pots to others.

Finally, pass on the goodwill. If you see a boat struggling with a pin in hard ground, offer a hand; if someone is leaving a mooring as you arrive, thank them for the space. Canal life runs on small kindnesses, and the boater who leaves a stretch tidier and quieter than they found it will always be welcome back.