Catastrophic failure

The last weeks have been spent leisurely driving South through Croatia. Down to Pula, getting on the ferry to the island of Cres  and hopping over to Krk. Sometimes enduring rain and heavy winds that were distant remnants of a hurricane over the Greek Isles. Most of the time it was sunny though but not really warm. I got into a slow rhythm of traveling that suited me fine but at the same time felt that I needed to speed it up a bit. Most travelers that were in the same direction as me, and who I follow on instagram were around Turkey at that time, as world travel is regulated by the seasons and one cannot just disregard the calendar. Unless you don't mind traveling in snow!

So it was around the small coastal town of Ploce, driving through vineyards full of juicy grapes, that suddenly there was no power to the engine. It started sounding very rough and my first thought was 'head gasket'. I say that because it wasn't really a surprise, I had a sneaky suspicion for months now,as a little cooling fluid came out of the reservoir with every drive. Not very much, in fact so little, that the level on the reservoir didn't even drop, but concerning none the less. The problem with this is, the only way to know if there's a problem with the head gasket is to open up the engine, at a cost of at least a thousand euro's.
So there I was, I coasted down the mountain, limping into the small town center, and parked up next to the gas station. This was a sunday, and no garages were open. After looking at it, researching the internet and still not being completely sure, the next day I chanced the drive to a beach just a little further. It started up fine and at first sounded no too bad, but a few kilometers into the drive, I regretted the decision, as it rattled and shook all the way, not going over 70 km/h.
Stopped a this paradise location, it became clear that the cooling system was under real pressure and the oil level had risen, clear signs of a head gasket failure, or worse, a cracked cylinder head. The trip was over for now.
This was monday that was national independence day in Croatia, so I decided not to bother the recovery people, and just have a relaxed day watching the kite surfers.

The next day I called VAB, the Belgian roadside insurance, and from that moment everything went into overdrive. They sent a tow truck, we established it was a too big a repair to be carried out there, and since Zagrab was a 500 km tow, decided to repatriate back to Belgium. The car would come back in a few weeks on the next car carrier truck and I would fly the same day.
It was surreal to be waking up on a beach 1800 km from home and be back to where I started from at midnight, but that's travel, unexpected things happen all the time.
So what is next. Nothing for me to do now but wait and prepare a bit more for the next start. As soon as the car arrives the repairs will start and I hope to be on the road again beginning of  November.