From ‘Fenland River – The Story of the Great Ouse and its Tributaries‘ by Rodney Tibbs, as related by W.E Doran, Chief Engineer of the Great Ouse River Board in the foreword:
After a very pleasant dinner some years ago in one of the Cambridge Colleges a certain Don turned to me and said “Why is the Ouse like a flea?”. I was unable to to think of any reasonable answer to this conundrun. “Ha!” he said, “because it goes into Beds. and Hunts. and ends up in the Wash!”
I’m planning to walk the Great Ouse, the UK’s 4th longest river, later in the year, I’ve hiked a third of it already (King’s Lynn to Ely), there are some fine opportunities along the way for a spot of wild camping.
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A master of punninig .
besidew the river’s tanqillity the photo shows one of those great East Anglia skies too
Ha! My husband and I have walked from Syresham to Stoney Stratford today – gorgeous weather and some beautiful scenery. We’re looking foward to the rest of the walk to King’s Lynn. I suspect I’ll tell this joke more than once.
Syresham to Stoney Stratford sounds good, I haven’t got that far on my walk yet. Glad you like the joke, there aren’t many Great Ouse jokes floating around.