Hereford’s own Bilbo Baggins became a cat on a hot tin roof when she hitched an astonishing 30-mile lift up the A49 last week.
Back home in Kings Acre with her family, Andrew and Alli Hartless and their two daughters, seven-year-old Lauren and Ellie, two, the 10-year-old tabby has been enjoying some creature comforts after an ordeal which took her from Bredon Drive all the way to Ludlow.
Bilbo had been sunbathing on the roof of a neighbour’s Land Rover when she inadvertently found herself taking part in the Mission Impossible-style ride. She managed to cling on grimly to the top of the vehicle which was bound for the E-on depot in Riddings Road, only hopping off on a 90-degree bend near its destination.
Devastated at their cat’s disappearance, though unaware she had high-tailed it to Ludlow, the Hartless family continued a day and night search for her. Posters and fliers were widely distributed, then their neighbour told them Bilbo might just have been the cat which leapt off his Land Rover in Ludlow – Bilbo is a distinctive cat as her tail was pulled off when she was a kitten before being rescued by the Hartless family 10 years ago.
Their repeated forays to Ludlow, where they knocked on doors and distributed fliers in search of Bilbo, eventually led to an emotional reunion not far from the spot where she had parted company from her transport six days earlier.
“She must have clung on to the cradle on top of the Land Rover which is used for carrying equipment,” said Alli. “My neighbour later said he thought he heard scratching.
“Most of Ludlow was talking about Bilbo,” said a relieved Alli, who works at St Michael’s Hospice in Bartestree. “When we found her she was clawing to get down from a fence, I was crying, my friend who was helping us was crying, it was very emotional. We really thought we’d never see her again.”
Alli praises the efforts of local people in Ludlow who helped their search. “The local kids were brilliant,” she said.
Though she was ‘skinny and very dirty’ after her ordeal, the Journal can report that Bilbo is now safe and sound back at home with the family.
The urgent mission to find the nervous tabby set the family back at least £200 in petrol and printing costs. “But it didn’t matter at all and we’d spend it again and twice as much to get her back,” said Alli.
Being reunited with Bilbo has a special significance for the family as she was a 70th birthday surprise in 2000 for Alli’s father, the late Brian Price.
“We found her on the day he would have been 80, so she is very precious,” says Alli.