Having reunited pets with their families in Greece, Animalcouriers set off on the return journey with dogs and cats on board.

George

George has been living on the Greek island of Crete with owners Malcolm and Sue for the past five years. A chartered accountant, Malcolm told us they feel lucky to have spent time living and working on this beautiful island. Now, however, it’s time to return to their roots in Northumberland.

Malcom and courier Marc with George

George was a little nervous at first, but a walk with courier Marc soon put a smile on this super fellow’s face

As we prepared to leave Crete, we enjoyed a fabulous sunset

Our overnight ferry waiting at Souda port

George yawning at the early morning disembarkation. When we sent this photo to Malcolm, he confirmed that George “isn’t an early morning dog, lol!”

As we drove out of the port, we noticed our air conditioning wasn’t quite up to par. So we took our van to a specialist in Athens to sort it out.

We asked our redoubtable friend Akis to look after George for the day and keep him nice and cool. We regrouped the next morning once the aircon was fixed, and continued collecting passengers for our journey to the UK.

Gobi and Kia

Gobi and Kia are a gorgeous pair of young setters, literally found on their doorstep by Lynne and Barrie. Their daughter in Wales offered to adopt them once they were old enough to travel. What a lucky pair of pups, choosing that doorstep!

Here’s Barrie with Gobi

And here’s Lynne with Kia

Kerkini

Another story of a stray with a happy ending! When John, an orchid expert who lives in the Shetland Islands, was leading a nature tour in northern Greece, beautiful pup Kerkini attached herself to him and followed him everywhere.

As the date for John to leave Greece approached, he realised he couldn’t just leave Kerkini behind. So his partner Roberta contacted Animalcouriers for advice.

Our fab friend Akis (see above!) went on a two-day trip to collect Kerkini. Then Christine of Chris’s Animal Hotel took over, organising a pet passport for Kerkini and taking care of her during the 21-day waiting period.

It’s not possible for John and Roberta to have Kerkini themselves, but she’s been adopted by their friends Paul and Val, who run the Restaurant aux Quatre Saisons in Axat, in southern France. Paul and Val (and their dog) are looking forward to welcoming Kerkini into the family.

Kerkini in the arms of Akis. Everyone who meets Kerkini comments on her lovely nature and warm personality.

Douglas and Terry

This identical black cat duo belong to Euan and Hannah, who are relocating from Athens to north London.

Euan arrived looking very smart for work, with Douglas and Terry in matching rolling travel bags

Slinky Douglas and Terry settled in for the trip

Bumble

Darling Bumble and family are relocating from Athens to Surrey.

Freya saying goodbye to Bumble

Sebastian and Linda

These brother and sister cats belong to Efi, who’s moving from Athens to Hertfordshire. Efi warned us they are quite shy and can be rather uncertain in unfamiliar surroundings. They hid away at first, which didn’t surprise us, as they had already travelled from Thessaloniki to Athens, and had a short stay at a cattery before transferring to our van.

Handsome Sebastian

Gorgeous Linda

Sunny, Joy and Faith

Wendy from Starlight Barking Trust has been working at a shelter on Limnos. She brought three lively and lovely young dogs — Sunny, and sisters Joy and Faith — to join our trip, on their way to their new UK homes.

Faith with Akis, who is always calm and full of good advice

Joy with courier Marc — Faith and Joy are a delightful (if lively) pair of scallies!

Sunny is somewhat calmer than the puppies — and loves attention

A closer look at Sunny

Melania

We scooped up sweet Melania in Patras just before we boarded our ferry. She travelled with us to Bristol in the UK to rejoin owner Iris, who wrote to say:

“Thank you for delivering Melania to me safely. She has settled back into her routine with no problems whatsoever. Thanks to you both for looking after her as if she was your own.”

Adorable Melania

On our way

With all our passengers safely on board, we took the ferry from Patras to the Italian port of Bari.

It was 34C, so we were grateful for a shady, airy spot on deck for our van, and permission to visit the deck to check on our passengers whenever we wished

The view across the Ionian Sea

George post breakfast on the ferry, and pre walk on Italian soil

Walking with two sets of playful pups — Faith and Joy, and Gobi and Kia

Deliveries and reunions

We handed Kerkini over to friends of Paul and Val in Saint Exupéry, near Lyon

Wendy from Starlight Barking owns a ski company called Snowbizz. Courier Marc delivered Sunny, Faith and Joy to Snowbizz, where they’ll be looked after for a little while until Wendy catches up.

And here they are arriving with courier Marc

Bumble’s ultimate destination is Surrey, but she’s staying for a while with her aunty on a farm in County Durham. Bumble is so laid back, we feel she will be happy wherever she is — provided there’s tasty food and plenty of hugs on hand!

On the way to Northumberland with George, we couldn’t get hold of owners Malcolm and Sue. So instead of bringing George all the way back down south, we dropped him off with courier Mike, who’s based in North Yorkshire. Once Malcolm was able to respond, we arranged for courier Mike to take George to Northumberland. George was a very sweet and patient dog throughout his very long journey from Crete!