Since 2024 the South West Coast Path, the original coastal National Trail in England and until recently the longest at 630 miles (which this year was superseded by the King Charles III England Coast Path at 2,700 miles), shares a Friendship Trail with the Bruce Trail Conservancy in Ontario, Canada, the longest trail in Canada (900km). A section of the Coast Path running between Cawsand Cornwall, Plymouth and Wembury Devon has been twinned with a section of the Bruce Trail around Cape Chin, Ontario.
With the hope of bringing the two Trails closer and to learn from each other, a plan was born for a small group of SWCP volunteers to visit Ontario for a walking trip. After some months of discussion and planning that visit was made in late September and early October 2026.
The SWCPA group was made up of 8 volunteers, most of whom had never visited Ontario before. The first day of the tour was to the wonderful Niagara Falls which is such an impressive and memorable sight. That of course included an exciting boat trip under the falls with Niagara City Cruises, and despite the obligatory red ponchos, everyone became very wet, but it was nevertheless great fun.
The second day was a visit to the Bruce Trail Conservancy office in Hamilton and a joint walk to a nearby park through which the Bruce Trail runs. It was very interesting to hear of the excellent conservation work carried out by the BTC experts.
Our group included Sue, Helen, Pete, Martyn, Sue, Ken, Jan and Tino.
The group then headed north to the Peninsula Club, the most northerly of the 9 clubs within the BTC. This is the Saugeen Peninsula with Lake Huron all along the west side and Georgian Bay along the easter shore, and very importantly, is the Traditional Territory of the Anishinabek Nation.
From our Canadian log cabins base in the Evergreen Resort the group went off to different areas around the peninsula for each of the following 5 days, taking hikes as they are called in Canada and exploring lots of different areas, landscapes and vegetation.
The first 2 days included the BTC Friendship Trail at Cape Chin, and that was an extremely enjoyable walk in lovely warm and sunny weather.
Unfortunately by Thursday the third day in Peninsula, the weather became extremely wet which made the walk tiring and difficult in places as we hiked through forests over undulating moss covered dolo stone, a type of limestone, with very lumpy surfaces and large cracks. That was unfortunate but it still turned out to be one of the best and most interesting days led by an amazing First Nation leader called Caley Nadjiwon Doran, the Interpretive Program Manager at Cape Croker Park. The park is part of Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, and officially not part of Canada. Caley educated and entertained us with the history and culture of his people, the local animals and birdlife, vegetation and trees. He even had names for some of the local black bears, but other than the ‘natural’ evidence on the trail of a local bear called Buster, we didn’t actually see him, much to our disappointment.
The week built up to us joining the Hiking Festival which is held annually and attended by about 120 hikers, organised by the Peninsula Club. On the Friday and Saturday we each could choose from about 30 walks to join over the 2 days. The walks were of varying length, landscape and subject (eg, beer and bees!) and between the 8 of us we chose around 12 different walks which were all very interesting and extremely well organised. The organisation of the Hiking Festival overall was so impressive with fantastic attention to detail, right down to personalised itineraries e-mailed to each participant. The Festival organising team did a really excellent job.
On the Saturday evening we stayed at the central camp after our walks and joined our new Canadian friends for the Festival dinner which included a guest speaker and a silent auction which raised money for the BTC.
All of our group not only loved the varied and enjoyable walks but also made some great new friends. The common bonds between us all were clear and the BTC team and participants were all so friendly and welcoming and were delighted that a group of Brits had taken the time to join their annual Hiking Festival. We truly hope that some of them will now visit us in 2027 so that we can reciprocate the warm welcome and hospitality.
On the final day we drove back to Toronto for the flight home, having enjoyed a great 9 day trip. We returned with great memories of some excellent walks and having met some lovely new people, in great surroundings.
Written by Tino Savvas
South West Coast Path Association Volunteer and Chair, South West Coast Path Committee
International Friendship Trails
Find Out More about the World Trails Network and the International Friendship Trails programme.
We are proud to have a friendship trail with the Bruce Trail Conservancy, and look forward to developing new friendship trails with more trails across the world.
