Last Updated: 23 Oct 1325
Off again to the UK with 8 dogs and 2 cats. One of the cats and two of the dogs belong to a lady that has had to return to the UK from Spain and having rescued the animals while she was living in Spain she is excited that she will be reunited with them tomorrow. The other cat is Chico the rescue cat that had to have a leg amputated and Sands and Pam have been looking after. Chico is being adopted by the lady that rescued Kasper, our sixth rescue cat that we have adopted! The other 6 dogs are all rescue dogs from Spain that have been adopted by people in the UK.
One of the dogs is Watson a Galgo that I collected in Cordoba yesterday and spent the night with us.
Timeline
0617 Saturday: alarm due to go off in 13 minutes but awake. Despite sharing the sofa bed with Watson all night have had a really good sleep. Just checked Facebook, Twitter and email for any messages relating to transport. No last minute panics so far! Weather forecast not as bad as had been predicted.
Will get up soon and walk Watson before putting him in Van. Then will sort our food for the trip and shower.
Will then load Chico and wait for co-driver Mick who is due at 7.30am.
0625 Saturday: just seen text from Mick’s wife asking if I can pick him up this morning. Can’t as would have to be leaving now so he going to have to come down as planned.
1130 Saturday: rained pretty much all the way up to Murcia. All the dogs and cats loaded ok and (fingers crossed) couldn’t see any issues with passports. One has 9am as time worming administered today so we can’t cross into UK until after 9am tomorrow which may hold us up for a while. Depends on weather through France and how strict passport control are if we arrive early!
Weather at the moment pretty good. Dry with some cloud so not too hot for the animals.
0115 Sunday: good drive through a primarily dry France. Have transferred Kittyboo from his box to the cage with the dogs Alfie and Kiko that he lives with and he is much happier (as are we) as he has quietened down a lot! All the others are doing well.
0630 Sunday: one of our better drives through France although held up for 30 mins by accident just north of Paris. Dogs have just had morning walk and breakfasts and cats have had breakfast.
0840 Sunday: best yet for clearing pet passport send boarding. Less then 40 minutes! Looking good to be couple hours ahead of schedule st this rate.
1730 Sunday: is hard to update during the day when dropping the cats and dogs off as need to keep adoptants and owners updated, and deliver as quickly as possible. What a great day! Chico made himself at home straight away with Kim and it was so good to see all Sands hard work saving him come to such a lovely end. At the other end of the day Watson has a great new owner in Mike, what a lovely man. All the dogs and cats were delivered by 3.30pm with the exception of Maxwell and Talula who we were going to be delivered in the morning, but we made such good time their new owner is driving over to Stoke to collect them, and as I tap this update into the iPad is due any minute now.
0740 Tuesday: heading back today. Very productive day yesterday sorting out new van with Central Contracts and a new business and some sponsorship with Harley Davidson. This morning we are off to Chester to pick up Chloe from a kennel and then delivering her to Malaga too her owners who have just moved to Spain. Calling in at Birmingham to pick up a TV for a friend (we charge for this). Also in the van are some puppy cages that have been donated to a rescue centre and a wheelchair for a dog. We don’t charge for items related to animal rescue activity.
1325 Tuesday: Chloe picked up and settled. Mates TV picked up. Good drive so far. Bit overcast and some rain but traffic moving well Should be at Shuttle around 4pm.