Cat Tales

I'm a sceptic with flying saucers, even though I think I saw one once. I'm also a sceptic when it comes to ghosts although, again, I'm pretty sure I could hold my own by a fireside with something I saw several years ago. Admittedly, it was in a bar.

But until yesterday, I'd never spotted a notorious 'big cat', even though I've spent many long hours walking my dog alone on the beautifully desolate Bodmin Moor.

On the route home after a few hours 'bouldering' in The Barn, near Tavistock, a couple of friends and I were driving down a wooded incline when we saw a large, black animal with a long tail slip through the hedge and down the steep bank that descends by the side of the road. Unfortunately we only caught the tail end of the creature, but it left us in no doubt that we'd seen a large cat. Too big for a domestic Tomcat, too far from Japan to be a Ninja - the fact that it's tail managed to catch and sway a large branch tells you that this was no Tiddles.

Today, I'm a believer...