ON THE GREAT OUSE FROM BEDFORD TO THE WASH. 90 miles through the counties of Bedford, Huntingdon, Cambridge and Norfolk.

AFTER our many wanderings in the Midland and Southern waterways we decided to explore the Great Ouse for our next holiday.

Starting from London overnight by express, we railed to Bedford - 50 miles off - within the hour, and hied to the Swan Hotel for the night.

Before proceeding on our cruise on the following morning, we looked through this fine old town, full of historical associations, and near here, as everybody knows, is the birthplace of John Bunyan, of " Pilgrim's Progress" fame. His statue appears in the town, likewise that of John Howard, the philanthropist and reformer.

There are several rivers in England of this name, but the Ouse we are about to traverse rejoices in the title of the "Great Ouse," altogether some 150 miles long - although the used and navigable portion of our journey is about 90 miles.

It has been canalized in several places at different times along the route, and the management of the waterway is under several jurisdictions.

There has in bygone times been considerable traffic on this river, even up to Bedford itself, but, as it was found to be unremunerative, it has fallen away and the locks have been in disuse for some time past.

However, after some agitation in the upper towns, nine of the locks from Bedford have been re-opened for the summer for pleasure-boating, and these are worked chiefly by the millers en route.

As the motor boat under present conditions could not be used for the through journeys we chartered a roomy double-sculling skiff for the run from Messrs. Cheetham and Biffen, of Bedford. Boating, we may say, is carried on here more than is usually the case in inland waters that we have visited.

In fine weather we commenced our voyage at 10.30 a.m., with 25 miles and 12 locks ahead to Huntingdon.

The upper portion of the river is attractive, and is easily navigated, but some miles down the weed trouble begins, and very serious it is, too, in some places; so much so, that we lost trace of our course on more than one occasion. This state of affairs continues down to Tempsford (Beds), some 10 miles distant, and, in addition thereto, shallows are encountered.

Eventually we managed to overcome all these difficulties, which so far had hampered our progress, and after this, to our surprise, the river suddenly became much wider, and this continues more or less from here.

The locks already referred to were easily managed, and found to be in good working order, but after St. Neots (Hunts) the inconvenience with those that were closed began, as we had to haul the boat overland considerable distance Ours being a heavy skiff, the undertaking was by no means an easy one, and had we not had a full crew and outside assistance in some cases, it would have been difficult work indeed There has been no attempt whatever made to give facilities under the circumstances, which we think might easily be done without much outlay; such facilities would encourage boating generally

We were fortunate to come across a boating party of Cambridge "wetbobs " with two ladies, travelling down stream like ourselves, and they had taken the precaution to adopt what we thought was a very good idea, viz., to carry three wooden rollers, each about a yard long, over which to pass the skiff, and these they kindly lent to us at each lock, which helped us considerably.

The delays en route had made us so late that we had to put in two hours' work after sundown, but, fortunately, the moon being full, and the night otherwise fine, we afterwards reached Huntingdon - our destination - as the clock on the town church struck ten. The day was one full of adventure and experience, and as to the scenery, although not striking, it is very pleasant at such places as Roxton and about St Neots. The George Hotel was our resting place, and glad were to turn in after an arduous day's work

Huntingdon is the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell and in several parts of the town we found statues commemorate his fame.

In coming down this river, we were struck by the number of campers dwelling under canvas on the bank sides, this form of amusement being much more popular in these parts than we have seen elsewhere.

As before mentioned, from the reports we had received, we did not think of bringing our motor launch, but the motor boat, we found, had already appeared on these waters, both at Bedford and at St. Neots, although only in a few instances; however, the advent was duly noted.

The difficulty in the development of the pastime generally in the upper reaches, is that notwithstanding the fact that there are runs of good water, they do not continue sufficiently for any distance. This is partially accounted for by the withdrawal of the barge traffic, which kept the course clear.

The considerable width at some places was quite a surprise to us, especially after what we had come through in the higher reaches.

At St. Neots, by the way, apart from there being sailing and boating, there was quite a small colony of little houseboats moored near to the bridge.

Again in perfect weather we made a 9.30 start from Huntingdon on our second day down stream, bound for Ely (Cams), and with the wind right aft we at once took advantage of it and hoisted our sail, which was a pleasant experience for many miles down.

The country below Huntingdon right down to St. Ives is very pretty indeed, and as interesting as any that we have come across. We had four locks in all on our day's run, over two of which we had to lift our boat - again a tedious operation. It seemed to us a pity that the locks should be closed for years through some misunderstanding between the parties concerned. All that is wanted is a key to open these well constructed locks, but no! - there they are: closed to everybody! Of course, the inconvenience to us, a travellers, was only temporary, but to others whom it affects more seriously it has led to discontent and chronic grumbling.

Another result is that the commercial traffic has flown, possibly never likely to return. But what worse, by being so closed, the weed obstruction has increased tenfold.

After sailing some 13 miles to Earith, we come to the junction of the West or natural River Ouse, which diverts our course off the main channel from the Hundred Foot River. This latter consists of two deep cuttings between high mud banks through 20 miles of country to Denver Sluice, and is the beginning of the tidal way. The cuttings are also known as the New and Old Bedford Rivers, and were constructed shorten the route to King's Lynn by about 11 miles early in the 17th century, by soldiers and sailors taken as prisoners of war, so history relates

The river from St. Ives we found in a very weedy state. The bridges on this river are of rather a unique and striking character, particularly at St. Neots Huntingdon, and St. Ives. They have quite a style of their own, which arrests the attention of the passer-by

The bridge of St. Ives has a tower built on one of the parapets, and is sufficiently large to form a dwelling house of some storeys, and at the present time is occupied as a residence. This struck us as being something after the type of Old London Bridge in by gone days.

The town of St. Ives is an interesting, old-world place, and this we should mention is the highest point up to which barges can now be navigated. Although we were not impressed, up to this point, by the commercial aspect of the Ouse, we were informed by a local authority that there was a likely development of traffics anticipated down stream in the future.

Here at Earith Junction we land for lunch, which we partake of in picnic fashion on the banks, resuming out journey on the Old River, which is 15 miles to Ely without a lock, but so narrow is it that we had to have recourse to our towing rope. This mode and change of progression through the Fen country we quite enjoyed, doing some nine miles in this way and sculling the remainder, when the widening river permitted it.

Coming along this particular stretch, we hardly met a soul en route, and this again may be said to be the case, generally speaking, on most rivers and canals when once away from the centres of population. This, perhaps, to many people rather enhances the charm of a holiday after months of rush and hustle in town.

Eleven miles down from Earith, we came to Pope's Corner, where the River Cam (which leads to Cambridge, some 16 miles up stream) joins the Ouse. Four miles farther we reached Ely, our stopping place for the night, at 10 p.m., the moon again assisting us to pilot our way pleasantly along.

After some difficulty in finding accommodation, on account of the town being very full of visitors, we were housed, and made welcome at the Bell Hotel.

The cathedral here is a beautiful structure, and its elevation such that it forms a prominent landmark for many miles around.

I had a conversation with a prominent boat owner here, from whom I learned that there has been more development with the motor boat at Ely than on any part of the River Ouse, and he thinks it is likely to increase. There is, I think, every likelihood of this, as the stretches of water are of the very best, giving in some places about 10 feet depth of water.

It is interesting to note that just a mile below Ely there is a long cutting of five miles, and here it is that the Cambridge University crews have their early training, and the trial eights are rowed.

After a pleasant, although hurried, stay at Ely, we made an early start on this our third and last day, the continued good weather leaving nothing to be desired

The distance to be traversed to accomplish the finish of our journey was 30 miles, with one tidal lock Denver Sluice, where we had to catch the ebb tide - hence our early departure. This we just managed to do after a hard piece of sculling, and we reached the lock, 17 miles down, in time to get the remaining ebb, which just carried us down within a mile of home, when a strong flood tide was encountered, and we reached our destination - King's Lynn - at 5.15 p.m.; not a bad day's work, we thought, having covered the 30½ miles, including stoppages, in 8½ hours.

Some few miles down, near Littleport, the Little Ouse branches off to Thetford, a distance of 23 miles. From Earith Bridge Lock to Denver Sluice is 45 miles, and this, I think, is one of the longest uninterrupted stretches of water without locks. This shows the flat nature of the country thereabouts, as, in fact, it has been in all the counties we have come through on this cruise.

The depth of water in the lower reaches and width of river came as a surprise to us. It is entirely free from weeds, and what more ideal place could one get for the motor launch? The scenery all down this river varies very much. It never reaches the grandeur one experiences on the Thames, but it is very pleasant indeed, and is well worthy of a visit.

As to the surroundings below Denver - where we again join the Hundred Foot River - it is simply a tidal way with deep, uninteresting high banks, and these show the great extent of the rise and fall of the tide.

On the way down the tidal way is another long cutting known as the Eau Brink Cut, and these give the idea that there have been at one time endeavours to make this Great Ouse a commercial river of importance.

Coming down these last 14 miles, we did not meet a single craft of any kind until we arrived at our destination.

We landed at the ferry at King's Lynn, and consigned our skiff back to Bedford by rail, and so finished up a particularly happy and interesting trip.

Our crew consisted of four good men and true, all honest workers, too, with no shirkers, and, having this full complement, it enhanced the pleasure of our voyage considerably, as there is complete relief in the sculling rotation.

Although this trip has been accomplished in three days, four or five days should really be taken over it, but we were desirous of pushing on and finishing our journey during the Bank Holiday recess. This we just managed, chiefly through there being no hitch in our plans, and through the weather being as near perfection as we could wish.

The total distance shown below is 84 miles (with 18 locks), or an average of 28 miles per day for the whole trip.

So closes still one more voyage of exploration; and when one looks back to it, it is with the feeling of utmost satisfaction.

Table of Distances	Miles.	Locks.
Bedford to Huntingdon	25	12
Huntingdon (Beds) to Ely (Cambs)	28	5
Ely to King's Lynn	31	1
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	84	18
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Picture related to this cruise