Cape Breton: The Gaels’ Trail

Sunday, August 30 through Thursday, September 4, 2025

5-nights; 5 days of walking

Begins in Port Hood, NS, and concludes in Inverness, NS

Cost: $1000

*see below for details

About Camino NS: Cape Breton Gaels’ Trail Pilgrimage 2025

Pilgrimage brings us close to the land, slowing us down, deepening our awareness. Camino is an opportunity to discover how the rhythms of time and place can help us live more lightly on the land and help us become more Earth-conscious. This particular event offers the opportunity to join an experienced pilgrimage leader on a Camino experience in Nova Scotia’s beautiful outdoors, with an emphasis on the rich Gaelic and Acadian culture of the area.

Exact start and finish times are still being determined, but participants should expect to begin late afternoon on day one and finish in the evening of the final day.

Our walking will take us along the south-west coast of Cape Breton Island, between the Canso Causeway and picturesque Inverness County. We begin the journey near the south-western tip of the Island, then walk north through communities made famous by landscape, culture, and memory. We will trek The Gael’s Trail – a 92-km trail through a region where Gaelic culture, language, and history still resonate through community life and identity.

This pilgrimage will take us through some of the most breathtaking country in Cape Breton, including seacoast, forest, and lakeside walking, as well as the Mabou highlands. Camino Nova Scotia pilgrims will benefit from the gentle grades of a former rail path, and the warmth of small Maritime communities. We will walk alongside the homes of world-famous fiddlers and musicians, fishing wharves, churches, fine whiskey distilleries, coal mines, and beautiful beaches.

As with all Camino NS pilgrimages, you will be supported along the way by an enthusiastic pilgrim support team. Our daily routine provides plenty of time to get to know your fellow pilgrims, help prepare and clean-up group meals, participate in an optional time of spiritual reflection, and get the rest you need to recover from the day’s walk and prepare for the next. Camino NS staff will be on hand to facilitate the walking, transport luggage, do the grocery shopping, and coordinate daily check-ins.

Before registering, please read our Overview and Expectations document here

To learn more about the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail, visit: https://www.celticshores.ca/

To learn more about Camino Nova Scotia, visit www.CaminoNovaScotia.ca.

Still have questions? Reach out to us at camino@astheology.ns.ca.

To Register:

1. Register here on Eventbrite, reserving your place with your non-refundable deposit of $100.

2. Fill out the registration form linked in your confirmation email and start working-in your hiking boots. 😊

The Fine Print

1. Cost includes staffed Camino experience, meals, accommodations, and in-Camino transportation.

2. A shuttle providing transportation from Halifax to Cape Breton, and back, will be arranged if required by participants; cost TBA.

3. A non-refundable deposit of $100 is required at time of booking.

4. Full payment is due by July 30th, 2025. Cancelled bookings will be refunded at 100% if notice is received on or before June 15, 2025; 50% if notice is received by July 15,2025; no refund after July 30th, 2025.

Camino Nova Scotia: Cape Breton August 30 - September 4, 2025