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The lovely Tully cat saga

Writer's picture: Adi Adi

Updated: Nov 16, 2024


My cat called Tully on a wool rug.

Tully is the most special creature in my life. 


A cat sleeping on a white blanket

She is 10 years old now (August 2024). I was lucky enough to cross paths with her in Scotland during I think my first or second year of PhD in Glasgow. I was sat in the office, not working and looking at cats on the Gumtree site (like Leboncoin) and saw her little kitten face. Everyone told me not to get her. I move around too much they said. You're too busy they said. The next day I was on a train to the other side of Scotland (Fife) to collect her. Best decision I ever made. She wailed and complained in her box on the train so I took the risk to take her out, and cuddled her like a baby all the way home. She even did the Glasgow underground. 


My cat Tully curled up on a classical French chair

For many years she was entirely an indoor cat. I shared an attic flat, then a tenement flat, even a cottage in Boarhills, Fife, when I taught astrobiology at St Andrews, which had a garden but she never liked to leave the house. Eventually I had my own nice flat in Speirs Wharf. She explored stairwells and balconies, but little else.


My cat called Tully asleep with her arm over mine

When I first moved to France in 2020, and the first Covid lockdown, I was away from Tully, she remained in Scotland being looked after by a friend. But I got her back and brought her to France at the end of the lockdown. I flew to Glasgow then we got a train to London.


My cat Tully in her cat carrier at a train station

Then train again from London to Folkestone, followed by an incredibly expensive 'cat taxi' ride from Folkestone to Calais. Then it was on the train to Paris, a taxi across Paris and train to Bordeaux, then a tram ride and a bus to Blaye.


My cat Tully in her cat carrier inside a train carriage
Tully, 1st class en route for Paris

That was her biggest voyage, but she also came with me to Caen, Normandy, when I spent 6 weeks there getting my boat license in 2021. We had a little appartment overlooking the harbour. I liked Normandy. 


My cat Tully playing on a chair in the sunlight
In the Caen appartment, Normandie, France

We even lived in an old attic hotel room near Bordeaux for a while.


My cat Tully at a doorway inside an old wooden hotel
In the hotel room in Blaye, near Bordeaux, France

When my boat finally arrived in France she wasn't too sure what to make either of it, or of the water. On the first day she tried to walk along the boat side lip, panicked, tried to turn and fell in. She couldn't climb out in that port and I needed to jump in to get her out!


A cat on the bow deck of a boat looking at the canal water.
Tully's first day on the boat, she fell in about 5 minutes after this was taken.

She has fell in since then many times. Usually it is no problem as she can just swim and climb out the side, she is a very good swimmer. However, I am very aware of where she is when the canal sides are vertical and steep. 


My cat Tully on the stern deck of the boat in the evening looking at the water.

She once tried to jump off the boat when I was in a serious lock, and since then I always make sure to shut her inside when the boat is moving. As soon as I stop I let her out and she immediately explores.


My barge on the canal moored to a grass bank with my cat and scooter nearby in the sunshine

Last year I converted one of the door air vents into a cat flap, so at night she comes and goes as she likes. Usually in summer I barely see her, in winter she is a cuddle monster.


My cat Tully looking out the boat door wistfully.

She gets fleas now and then. I have tried drops and collars, but it can be hard to get rid of them. The vet told me fleas for chickens and those for cats are different apparently, and chicken fleas won't settle on cats. Most of the time I am flea free, but they break out now and then. Such is country life. 


My cat Tully on the green and white boat roof looking at a tree lined canal in beautiful weather

We also have the lovely habit of going for a walk together every evening in the dusk. She doesn't need a harness or lead, infact she gets annoyed if I don't walk with her. Usually about 800m is enough, but sometimes more. However, we must be alone, any sign of a dog or person and she runs back onto the boat, or up a tree. I have scarily and sometimes painfully rescued her from many tall trees! She now also has a very posh GPS tracking device.


My cat Tully exploring a grass and lef strewn bank next to the boat on the canal

One incident changed our relationship and how she behaves to me. She has always loved me, but one day in the Gironde a woman's dogs chased her and she ran really high up a rotten tree with spindly branches. Maybe 20m up, going higher and higher in her panic. The woman just left. I ran and got my ladders but they were not high enough. I then grabbed the cat carrier, boat ropes and carabiners. I climbed the ladder, then onto the rotten breaking twiggi branches up to her, grabbed her and put her into the carrier and lowered her. She knew what I did. Since then she adores me X10. I see her love in her eyes and actions.


My cat Tully stretching on the bed next to a book and two balls of wool yarn

My cat Tully stretched out on a wooden table surrounded by candles in a kitchen

She never scratches, either me nor anyone else. She's so soft and gentle. Even with the chickens she is harmless. Infact the rooster and big Elspeth (the big grey factory rescue chicken) scares her. 


My cat Tully in the grass garden in France with a chicken

I'd be lost without my Tully, and she's be lost without me. I love her to bits. 


My cat Tully asleep on a wooden bookshelf

Anyways, I thought this would be a very short quick blog, but I realise me and Tully are not a short story. 


My cat in the sunshine on the green boat roof on the canal in France surrounded by trees

Anyways, signing off. Adi


My cat Tully staring thoughtfully out of a boat window in France

My cat Tully on the green and white boat roof next to a kayak in the city of Toulouse, France
Travelling through the city of Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, France

My cat Tully by the canal next to a rope and a boat
Tully exploring the dry dock of Toulouse, France

My cat Tully crossing a wooden bridge rail near the canal
At Lacourt-Saint-Pierre, a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France.

My cat Tully asleep on the grass in the sunshine surrounded by flowers

My cat on a wooden chair next to a candle stall on a stone canal dock with my green boat behind her.
A litlle markey in Paraza village in the Aude, France

My cat asleep on a wooden table next to my laptop, surrounded by canles on my boat
Fellow team mate working hard


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