"It Was Hang Myself or Buy a Motorhome"

OVADA (ITALY).

The heavy rain and thunderstorms continue overnight. In the breaks, the church clock strikes every half hour. The toilet opens at 8 am. The village is already bustling, it's one of three market days.

Satnav tries to take us on the reverse shortcut from yesterday, naturally, we're having none of it. We arrive at Marie and Harry Kelly's villa shortly after 10 am. We spend a couple of hours enjoying a catchup over tea and croissants. Rosie and Marie swap photos whilst Harry and Paul discuss more important matters, e.g. football.

We choose the motorway and toll option after satnav suggests the local routes will take 9.5 hours, our route is about 3 and a half. All tolled (sorry, that's a shocking pun - editor), it costs us 38 euro.

We follow the coast almost to Genova. There is a noticeable difference once we move from France into Italy, even the tunnels look less prosperous.

There is a great supermarket, Bennet, at the motorway exit. The food looks superb so we buy provisions for dinner. The town boasts three motorhome stops. The one we choose is busy with travellers preparing for the Easter fair. The services are being renovated and look fabulous. Unfortunately, they won't be operational until next week.

We park alongside a fellow Elddis sporting a UK plate. The Welsh driver comes over to talk. He tells us that he divorced recently after 40 years' of marriage. As a result, he's travelling alone. No one else was involved, he explains, just greed. He left that hanging and added "it was either hang myself or buy a motorhome". He got lost around Genova airport. He showed me a till roll from the toll gate, euro 84.20 of unpaid tolls!

We are only 500 metres from the town. It's typically Italian, lots of churches in squares a nd narrow cobbled streets. It feels like a working town not a tourist one. Which doesn't really fit with the three motorhome stops.