Fancy a Spa Treat? Not till you have run 20 miles!

By Natalie Hawkrigg

Two Northern Fells Vet Females turned 50 at the start of 2022, and Liz Wilson and Natalie
Hawkrigg were gifted a rather unusual treat – A twilight Spa at Lodore Falls in Borrowdale, but
there was one condition, they had to run 20 miles to get to it first!
The birthday treat was a gift from Clare Regan, another Northern Fells Female Vet legend, who
has a reputation for unusual gifts. This one came with a detailed route map and strict instructions
on exact route to get to the Spa.
The route started at Calebreck and followed the Northern fells tops over High Pike, Knott, Calva,
Skiddaw, Skiddaw Little Man, Latrigg, into Keswick and on to Portinscale, Hawes End and
Catbells, before dropping beside the shores of Derwent water and over to Lodore Falls.
The route was designed specifically so that once we arrived at the Spa we would be able to sit in
the infinity pool and look out at Catbells and Skiddaw (with a pleasing sense of smug satisfaction
that we had run over them to get there).
Whilst we both turned 50 in January 2022, we didn’t get around to sorting our ‘Spa Run’ until late
September. Liz was feeling rather unprepared, having not run much due to a new job, and Natalie
had to promise to be nice. (Of course I will!)
Blessed with nice weather we made good progress over the Northern Fells. Skiddaw was a beast,
with Liz finding the ascent challenging and by her own admission ‘I got really really slow’, so being
on my best behaviour, I made her do the A-Z of male handsome celebrity names to entertain her to
the summit, frustratingly we got quite stuck at ‘V’ when we couldn’t think of one. (Vinnie Jones was
our best effort in the end), and the game deteriorated badly at ‘J’ with Jimmy Saville, but it did the
trick and we were finally over Skiddaw.
Into Keswick, Liz had another ‘bad moment’. She mooted the idea of a taxi the rest of the way,
proclaiming she felt rather unwell. I turned to look at her, pulled a face, and told her she ‘looked
just fine to me’ and that the taxi idea was ‘ludicrous’ and that we could run the flats and walk the
ups and keep going! I was told later that this wasn’t so nice, but I excused it as ‘tough love’.
Liz, wasn’t smiling so much by the time we got to the bottom of Catbells (but we had covered A-Z
of female actors by now and the top 10 list of most handsome men in the world – so I was being
nice again), and the final pull up Catbells was an effort, but she did it and from there I pointed out
the Lodore Falls Hotel and we were on the last section smiling.

Arriving at the Spa, there was a Bentley Car owners club gathering, so we felt rather out of place,
then didn’t notice the ‘no muddy boots’ sign on the door! Changed into our luxury bath robes, we
asked the man at the bar had he heard of anyone running 20 miles to get to the Spa before, and
he had most certainly not!
All now forgiven between us, Liz and I sipped our complimentary glass of champagne in the Spa
infinity pool whilst smugly looking out on Catbells and Skiddaw. This was then followed by a ‘not so
smug’ moment when Natalie lost her champagne glass in the pool, then Liz lost her flip-flops
(someone else walked off in them), then followed by the sudden realisation that the ice in the posh
ice maker was not for drinking but for rubbing over your body – Oh dear, fell runners are just not
used to this kind of luxury stuff!

Having chosen September for our Spa run we had the treat of watching the sunset and the Spa
pool lights turned on as the light dimmed, making for a rather magical experience. Sitting in the
deluxe ‘Finnish Sauna’ with a huge wall-to-wall window looking out onto Catbells was a highlight.
Our birthday treat will never be forgotten, and it just proves that not all fell running adventures have
to be events or races, and can be self made or even gifted (Thank you Clare)