The purple beast is dead

Sat 12th July

I don't know whether to cry, laugh or drink more beer.

"The" mechanic turned up around 6:30pm last night, just hours after Bevan and I gave up for the weekend and had started on cocktail hour(s). After thirty minutes of pulling various bits out of the engine and setting them on the dirt, he threw both arms in the air and shrugged. Luckily one of the camp site staff was there to translate.

Last night's sorrowful cocktail hour at the campsite

The compression in the engine is bad, which we hear is really expensive to fix. The mechanic couldn't do anything for us on the island other than teach us how to start it (which involves a hefty push and a hill), so we're stuck here until Monday when the shops reopen. Our plan is to drive the van back to the mainland (restarting it on the ferry should be fun!) and get a quote for fixing it. If it really is too expensive... well RIP Purple.

I have no idea what we'll do from there. Hiring a replacement van is ridiculously expensive and it seems kinda silly to drive all the way back to London to get another van on gumtree. But neither of us is ready to call it quits when we're only 1/2 way through the trip.