The first of June, and all is changing. This has been a hectic public holiday weekend onsite, with Champions’ League final showing on a projector screen at the bar (and in the games room, slightly in advance. It was easy to tell from the distant cheer when PSG were about to score.) The little heatwave has passed, and the skies are cloudy, and all the family and friends have gone, leaving me with the birds. Matt and crew left at 7am this morning; John & Gill #2 a little later, heading south to Loupian on my suggestion (Jeopardy level 5). They sent a message saying all well, and impressed by the MIllau viaduct. Joop left yesterday in a shower of smiles, waves, handshakes and broken English. Anne-Laure and Thomas departed Friday night, leaving Matt and Jen with an invite to stay with them in Brittany; Ilse and Abel are on their way back to Den Hoek.

After the various Haydocks left, floods of tears from most of the children, we shared a bar table with the Dutch and French. These may be holiday friendships, but sometimes they flourish and blossom to be something more lasting – after all, we all chose to come to the same place, each for their own reasons, sometimes to return. The accidents of friendship are not to be underestimated.

We had a farewell lunch at the Côté Dordogne; the kids tucking into confit duck and ice cream. As Jen says, nice to see them eating and finishing a meal; James in particular is usually too busy. With the temperature over 30deg, the pool was needed. As they’d booked an extra day, they needed to swap chalets, taking over Anne-Laure and Thomas’s, after cleaning. I too negotiated an extension, now staying on until Friday when I’m due at Mike and Jan’s place. After I had extolled the virtue of this site so often, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t need a new adventure just yet, I can enjoy a less hectic stay, do some much needed cleaning and maintenance, and just enjoy the surroundings.

It’s been a great week, just chillin’ mostly. There was a great mixed family barbecue, cooked on the portable gas stoves from the campsite. I made yeast-dough flatbreads, which has been an ambition to do for a while. I did leave flour all over Willma, so maybe I need a new technique, and a bigger bowl: mixing without scales made things tricky, getting the hydration right just by feel. Edible though, and nobody died. Matt and I went on a vineyard hunt up into the hills.

Eventually found it, surrounded by four Belgian cars, with all the families on a tasting. We squeezed in, and tried some too. I asked Madame if I could take her photo. She thought I meant the tasting room, and was surprised when I pointed the phone at her.

The public holiday now being over, as Lola the manager predicted, the site has nearly emptied. The weather forecast isn’t that great, another factor. The friendship group in the four tents behind me, with their assorted toddlers, who had set up a long dining table complete with festoon lights, packed up and have gone back to Paris. There have been a procession of campers and motorhomes heading for the exit, quite entertaining. Matt, following Anne-Laure’s caution about Paris bottlenecks, has taken an easier route, crossing over to the A26 past Reims – as I write this paragraph, he’s within two hours of the tunnel, and with time to spare. New arrivals are starting to arrive but only one or two; mostly, the site is being reclaimed by the birdlife. The jackdaws strut around like they own the place; chaffinches are celebrating the calm by singing even louder; I saw what I think was a black kite circling above the river; nuthatches are busy on Matt’s improvised feeder, and later a green woodpecker hunted grubs in the grass.

The engine battery is worrying me: the charge went as low as 11.6v at one point yesterday; so I’ve broken out the trickle charger, and set it to pulse repair. Slowly the base charge seems to be rising. I suspect the battery has never recovered from its little wobble in Asturias last spring, despite the long journeys in between. The leisure battery also went quite low, but found that the charger had got switched off, by dragging the clothes bag around I think. It’s in the same cupboard. I did spend one night in bed, after the voltage had been dropping for a while, wondering what life might be like without 12v – lights; fridge; USB chargers all out. A relief to sort it.

This natural environment is not just invigorating, or calming. I can feel my state of mind clearing, I feel more resilient, though this may be as much to do with physical as mental health. The app on my phone tells me I’m sleeping more, walking more, with a better heart rate. I’m also having to reassess getting a dog. (John offered Faith to me, but Gill said she was keeping the dog but I could have John.) I am starting to contemplate a bit of social camping when I get home – which is getting scarily close. Only one more filling the pill box; and one more laundry session. Though I think I’ll be using the dryer.