Cats, paperwork and delays!

Q. What happens now?

A. Get a later train!

And that's all there is to it.

What us newbie Channel Tunnel users didn't know is that your booking is valid for anything from 2 hours ahead of time to 2 hours after the time booked. So if you miss a train, you get a later one and if you are early, you can get an earlier train.

Simple!

We checked the schedule and there were 3 more trains listed. 11.45pm, 12.30am and 1.15am

Even with the delays at the Pet office we were hopeful of getting one of the later trains. We both let out our breath that we hadn't realised we were holding!

And so, to the delays. It seems that the couple at the counter had 3 cats and some of the paperwork wasn't right. I think it was an issue with the paperwork for the rabies blood tests which is crucial for entering the UK. The lady behind the counter didn't normally work there and was on her own and was trying to be as helpful as she could, considering the language difficulties BUT she had been trying to sort this out for 2 hours.

Yes, some people had been waiting 2 hours and seen trains leave that they should have been on.

So, even if we had arrived in plenty of time to catch the train we still wouldn't have been on it because the dogs would still be queuing for their tickets to be stamped - approved to travel!

All that dashing had been for nothing, but we weren't to know.

We took a seat and settled in for the wait.

As we waited another couple arrived, dog in hand desperate to get seen as they were late, had driven like demons through northern France only to find - they were going to miss their train anyway. We could explain it all to them, after all, we were experts now!

After a further 15 minutes the couple with the cats were dismissed to go and find a local vet to confirm the papers that were being faxed through from wherever and finally we all started to get dealt with.

The main problem then seemed to be with vanishing microchips. Judging on the number of chips that were proving difficult to locate, we all felt it was probably the machine that needed new batteries but eventually it was our turn.

Brandy, as always, was calm and we located his microchip quite easily. Brinkley is never happy when you go towards with him with some kind of instrument in your hand, scissors, syringes and scanners are all treated with contempt and an immediate need by him to hide behind my legs. We know that Brinkley's chip has moved and instead of being on the back of his neck, it's now over one of his shoulder blades. We know this because a few months ago we discovered this lump on his shoulder and thought he had been stung or bitten. After a few days of applying cream I realised that it wasn't a bite at all, just his microchip on its travels. I had been warned that this sometimes happens.

Eventually we heard the beep of the machine finding his chip and both dogs were verified as fit to travel and we headed back to the car.

We drove through to the check-in machines and entered our booking code and the ticket machine spat out our tickets for the 12.30am train. We had over an hour to wait but we were happy, we would travel tonight after all. I rang the hotel in Folkestone to let them know we had been delayed (not a complete surprise to them as I think they get a lot of Chunnel users staying there) and we would be arriving with them about 12.30am. The tunnel is magic, it makes time stand still, we would arrive the same time we left.

No, of course not. France is an hour ahead of the UK, we would merely be turning our watches back an hour.

We parked up and went for a wander to find a café. It had been a very long day and it wasn't over yet, but at least we could chill for a little while.