Distance on the cut is governed by locks more than by speed. Most canals carry a 4mph limit, but that's rarely the constraint. A lock flight adds far more time than an open stretch of the same length, since each lock has to be worked individually, filled or emptied, and passed through one boat at a time. A relaxed cruising day covers a modest handful of hours on the tiller and however many locks sit along that stretch, rather than a fixed mileage target; a lock-free pound lets you cover noticeably more ground than a day spent working a long flight. Continuous cruisers, who must keep moving under Canal & River Trust rules rather than settling in one spot, plan routes around this reality rather than a daily-mileage target: see whether you can legally live on a canal boat for how that condition works. A day measured in locks rather than miles still ends with the same boat and the same name, see our continuous cruiser gifts.
Judging a day's range is something you learn by doing, and it belongs with the rest of living aboard. The hours go into the locks, so read how canal locks work before you plan a route around distance. The Canal & River Trust sets the limits themselves: "On our network the speed limit on most canals is 4 miles per hour", and "On most rivers it's 6 miles per hour" (Canal & River Trust, speed limits and etiquette).
