on the road with Animalcouriers

Couriers M and Mike are on a trip round western Spain and Portugal, while couriers J and Gwen are on the road in France and eastern Spain. Meet the pets who travelled out with couriers M and Mike — several dogs, a cat, a lovebird and a leopard tortoise.

Professor Albert Nuggles

Professor Albert Nuggles — Nuggles to his mates — is a lively and friendly little Yorkie. His owner warned us that anyone who meets Nuggles is in danger of being licked to death, which turned out to be pretty close to the truth!

We collected Nuggles in Manchester and delivered him to Roquetas de Mar in Spain.

Nuggles on the first leg of his journey, travelling down from Manchester

Even by Yorkie standards Nuggles is a tiny dog, but a huge character. We reckon he’ll be glad to swap the snow for Spanish sunshine!

The snow in north west Spain was very pretty but fortunately only patchy. As we headed south, things improved very rapidly.

We received this fab photo showing that Nuggles is having a great time in his new Spanish environment

Tojo and Rockie

Among our most frequent passengers, Tojo and Rockie originally travelled with us from Northern Cyprus a number of years ago. Mandy and family have homes in Belfast and Alicante, and the dogs travel with us regularly between the two countries. The dogs are great passengers, well behaved, lots of fun and always busy.

Here they are in Belfast, eager to get going

Adorable Rockie

Darling Tojo — despite being a leg short, he’s definitely in charge

Tricky

A first for us — a leopard tortoise! Tricky belongs to Andrew, who’s relocating from Northampton to Torrevieja.

We were mesmerised by the patterns on Tricky’s shell

Tricky overnighted in courier M’s hotel room, so that she could bask under her heat lamp

Leopard tortoises usually have smooth round shells, so we asked owner Andrew about the pyramiding in Tricky’s shell. He explained that it’s down to the fact that she had metabolic bone disease as a youngster, but it’s under control now and the overall growth of her shell is healthy.

Becoming Cliche — this is the rather special being that we mentioned… We now know why we hadn’t seen anything like her before.

Angel

Pretty lovebird Angel travelled from London to rejoin owner Juliet in the Malaga area of Spain. Juliet moved to Spain in December, leaving Angel in the temporary care of a friend.

Unfortunately Angel escaped through an open window and ended up at a hospital, where she was caught and taken to a vet, who handed her to a rescue centre for rehoming. Juliet flew back to look for Angel, putting up posters and making enquiries. Discovering what had happened to Angel, she had quite a struggle to retrieve her from her new home, but finally managed it.

Angel has beautifully coloured feathers…

…and is quite the acrobat

Angel looks very cute but comes with a health warning as she doesn’t share her love with anyone except Juliet! We managed to come through with all our fingers intact, phew!

Juliet with Angel — and a copy of the Evening Standard, which featured the story

Guinness

Lurcher cross Guinness started her journey in Belfast, heading all the way to Gibraltar to join owner Phil.

While Phil got settled in Gibraltar, gorgeous Guinness was in the care of his mum and dad, who became very attached to her.

A placid character, Guinness loves her walks

A happy reunion on a lovely sunny morning

Phil sent an email to say: “Many thanks for transporting Guinness to me. She’s a bit huffy but otherwise perfect, slept since arrival!”

Miro

Elegant cat Miro, who travelled with us from Luton, belongs to Gonçalo and his partner who work for easyJet. With Brexit imminent, both have applied for a transfer to a new location. In the meantime, Miro will be looked after by Gonçalo’s mum and dad in Lisbon. Mum Isabel is very excited about having Miro to stay as she thinks it may lead Gonçalo and his partner to relocate to Lisbon!

Miro has captivating blue eyes

A warm Lisbon welcome for Miro from Gonçalo’s mum and dad

An intriguing roundabout in Lisbon