So with Sainsbury's own boiled sweets to hand (what a mistake, the lemon tasted like cough sweets, the blackcurrant like sawdust) and the Glee soundtrack motivating us, we swiftly headed out of Oxford, and randomly southwards, with Sarah convinced she knew the way, and Ellie innocently believing her! All was going swimmingly, until we appeared to have momentarily misplaced ourselves, and with Sarah guessing confidently at crossroads which way to go, we were soon heading away from Ginge, a quick U-turn later, we found ourselves at a roundabout which looked very familiar, the same one we had been at 15 minutes earlier! However this time round Sarah decided it would make more sense to follow the signs to villages near Ginge, such as Wantage, and not her intuition. As we drove in what was now the right direction, we were just hoping for a road sign pointing to Ginge...and soon Sarah saw it with her eagle eyes and a very dramatic gasp, there it was in all its glory...but that is where the glory ended.
There was no 'Welcome to Ginge' sign (just poles upon which they once stood), no posing opportunity, and not a single Ginger from Ginge with whom we could say a chirpy hello to (you'd think they'd have atleast one token Ginge!) Infact the only indication that we were in Ginge was a sign on the main road pointing to a few houses and the fact that Sarah had previously ventured to this almost mythical place (back when the elusive Welcome to Ginge signs had existed), in fact it was almost as if we had just ventured through the magical land of Narnia, we were sure we'd been there, but we weren't really sure how we got there, or whether it really existed. We came to the conclusion that they are in the process of changing the name...possibly to Brunette...or maybe even Blonde. :) Ginge hadn't lived up to our expectations...and lets face it, they were high to begin with!
However, our spirits were soon lifted as we drove into the village of Lockinge (not quite as weird a name as Ginge, but really quite enjoyable to say...go on...say it!). As we were driving through, for a brief moment we felt very sophisticated, and as we peered through the gates to massive houses, we quickly decided we could quite happily live in them (if anyone fancies getting us one...we wouldn't complain :P) Let me just paint a picture of the wealth in this village, not only were the hedges perfectly trimmed and they had an Orangery (not entirely sure what it is, but fairly certain it isn't where they keep Oranges), but there were real-sized metal horses on a random patch of grass, and even a bronze rhinoceros. Only the super rich can afford the luxury of having a bronze rhinoceros! We were followed the length of the village by a man in a BMW, who we decided was trying to chase us out of his village, because, lets face it, we didn't really belong there (when in actuality, he probably didn't live there and was just driving through like us, but you have to be cautious), and with 'Private property/road' signs everywhere, we decided we had outstayed our time in Lockinge, and with a swift turn around (where a grassy verge may have been mounted), we started our journey to Uffington...or so we thought.
Again, we drove in a random direction, hoping we would come across Uffington, instead we may have inadvertently left Oxfordshire, and entered West Berkshire, although lovely, it wasn't quite where we wanted to be, and so we thought the easy option would be to go through the village of Fawley, which we hoped would take us back to Oxfordshire, but that just seemed too simple...we ended up at the end of a very dusty bridle road, so again, we turned around, and got stuck behind a rubbish lorry which turns out was going the same way as us, and as soon as we could, we overtook it. However, this new road we took was also a dead end, and so another turn around was needed, we decided enough of short-cuts, lets just go back the way we came. However, we had to make the decision of whether to wait for the rubbish lorry to pass or go and hope for the best, Sarah said wait, Ellie said go, we went, Ellie was wrong. Some very impressive reversing later, and we were taking a picture of a field to make it seem as though we weren't lost but that we were meant to be there. We finally managed to get back into Oxfordshire, and now felt confident we knew the way to Uffington, and with Didcot Power Station on the horizon, we had a new spurt of confidence...
We saw some signs for Uffington, so headed that way, via Wantage, and ended up on a half completed road, with huge hedges on either side completely lost (we had lost sight of Didcot Power Station as well), and so there was only one thing to do...ring PJ (Sarah's Brother) to help us, where he gave us directions on how to get back on the motorway, back to Oxford, from Ashbury (he practically saved our lives). We decided to leave Uffington for another day. And so we were coasting along nicely singing along to a bit of Glee and then a red car came out of no where, very fast along this narrow road, much swerving and slight hysterics later, Sarah had beautifully avoided a car crash, although was in a mild state of shock, which later turned into laughter...and as we came over the hill, Ellie saw a very exciting sight, a Wind Farm! (Sarah still reeling from her brush with death, didn't care so much for the wind farm, and it just seemed to clarify Ellie's geekiness).
Soon we were in Ashbury, on the home straight, and just to bring the whole adventure to a close...we nearly ran out of petrol! Our first road trip was complete, not hugely successful, but certainly an adventure, and we learnt a few lessons in the process:
1. Invest in a map.
2. Spend a little bit more on better quality sweets.
3. Use road signs, not intuition.
4. When you leave the county, you're a little bit lost.
5. Make sure you have enough petrol before you set off.
Photos:
What a disappointment! 
This is Ginge.. 
The only sign for Ginge.. 
The disappointment of Ginge. 
The gates of Lockinge. 
The metal horse. 
Being followed by the BMW man.
The rubbish lorry in West Berkshire.
Back on home-turf.
PJ to the rescue. 
Heading in the right direction...atlast. Thanks for reading! Peace out,
Love Bramley - Apple and Gallienniii
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