After spending a spectacular week on a private island in the Seychelles, the newlyweds began a tour of Canada – including a canoe trip to a remote island in the Northwest Territories.
(Northwest Territories Image by Michael John Brown)
It’s hard to get more remote than lonely Blachford Lake, a long stretch of glacier-fed water near Yellowknife, one of the few cities in Canada’s Northwest Territories. People do visit, however; the fishing is excellent, the nature is pure and unspoiled, and most notably, vibrant Auroras grace the night sky directly above the area, visible on more than 240 nights out of the year. All in all, it’s a pretty special place – and the newly married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge seem to think so, too.
(Image by Magnus D. via www.wikipedia.com)
The couple’s recent Canadian tour, wisely undertaken during the warm summer months, has been a 9-day jaunt across the vast and diverse country, taking them from sophisticated, urban southern Ontario, to historic Francophone Quebec, to the boisterous, “Wild West” atmosphere of Alberta’s annual Calgary Stampede. Also visited were Prince Edward Island, a small and quaint province on the country’s East Coast, and, rather surprisingly, the couple ventured up to the isolated Northwest Territories, one of the least populated and undeveloped parts of the country.
In the case of Blachford Lake, the royal visit may have been the most excitement this far-flung outpost has seen in a long time. The area is home to a small resort, Blachford Lake Lodge, an attractively rustic lakeside destination that offers, as well as fishing and hiking, dogsledding, snowmobiling, hockey, and amazing views of the Aurora Borealis as seen from their outdoor hot tub. In the case of Kate and William, they arrived at the lake via floatplane to begin their sub-Arctic adventure.
(NWT Image by Michael John Brown)
The couple was first greeted by Canadian politicians including federal Defense Minister Peter Mackay, then toured a unique “bush university” where students live an off-the-grid lifestyle as they learn about issues impacting Canada’s north, such as climate change, environmental sustainability and governance. The highlight of their trip came next – dressed in bright red Canada fleeces, the two canoed across Blachford Lake to the small Honeymoon Island, where they watched an unforgettable sunset in an unusual – but nevertheless romantic – piece of pure Canadian wilderness.
To learn more about Blachford Lake, visit: http://www.blachfordlakelodge.com/
Read an article describing the Royal visit to Yellowknife (video included): CBC LINK
