The Merlin Trail – Day 1 Christianity & Rheged

Scotland’s Early Dark Age heritage (between the departure of the Romans and the arrival of St Columba) is one of the most dynamic and dramatic periods yet it is much neglected in our history books where two hundred years often merit little more than a couple of paragraphs.

The trail is as chronologically logical as possible but can be visited in reverse order, or any order – or simply one location at a time when you fancy it. Overall this is a seven day itinerary but it is organised in 4 themes so that it can be broken down into one or two day trips. These incorporate all the major Dark Age sites of the 5th, 6th and early 7th centuries in the area.

You can easily follow this trail as listed here, using the on-site boards for information but there is a very detailed book with the history and the full route (which carries on up to Dunbar and beyond.) The gazetteer in the book and website also give you a good idea of what there is to see.