DOON VALLEY MUSEUM, CATHCARTSON
This museum is housed in a neat row of eighteenth century cottages beside the Muck Burn in Dalmellington. Recent renovation of the properties has been well done, but inside the museum somehow fails to deliver. It's difficult to say why, but it feels a bit clinical, and there appears to be too much blank vacant space. I'm sure they could get a few more artefacts in there, maybe scatter some dust or dirt around, and bring the rooms to life. There are, of course, wall-panels telling you about the town's history and that of the Dalmellington Iron Works, but for me the whole shebang was lacking something.

DUNASKIN HERITAGE CENTRE, WATERSIDE
The Dunaskin Heritage Centre is... eh... ummm... what's the word...emm... oh yes... SHUT. Or at least it was when I was there. (Forgive my paranoia, but there are times when I imagine my visit to any number of tourist attractions being preceded by frantic phone calls and people saying stuff like, 'That's him on his way now. Close the doors!') This heritage centre used to be on the site of the Dalmellington Iron Works, which was in operation between the 1840s and 1920s. But the heritage centre itself closed around 2005. The problem is, no one thought to take down the big sign at Waterside, and you might be forgiven for thinking it is still open. The same sign also mentions Dalmellington as a book town but, again, this scheme fizzled out a few years ago. (Is someone trying to wipe Dalmellington off the face of the earth?) But all is not lost. The Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group has taken over the site, and run steam trains on a short section of track on certain Sundays in summer. The site is now called The Scottish Industrial Railway Centre (please replace the old sign), and offers brake-van rides, a museum and shop. But please note: this site is only open when they have their occasional Sunday Steam Days. You can get details of the dates of the Steam Days in their website at www.arpg.org.uk.

TOWN TRAIL
You may be able to get a small booklet in Dalmellington's museum titled, 'Dalmellington Town Trail.' It is a little out of date, and if there was but one thing that I would say to those who run the museum it would be to reprint the updated trail on a leaflet. With the information at hand, you can wander around the town's streets and learn about the history of the many inns, or walk to the top of the ancient 11th century motte and marvel at the view.

LITTLE WALKS AND BIG WALKS
Dalmellington's one, and perhaps only, redeeming feature is the countryside in which the town sits. It is some of the best and most beautiful countryside to be found anywhere in Scotland. If you have a map (Ordnance Survey Landranger 77 'Dalmellington To New Galloway', 1:50000 or about an inch-and-a-quarter to a mile) you will see countless little dotted tracks and paths criss-crossing over the land. And not far to the south are the rolling Borders hills and mountains and scenes that will reduce you to tears of wonder and happiness.
There are any number of walks near Dalmellington. There's one that leads you beyond the Craigmark County Inn up onto the hills overlooking the Doon Valley, and down eventually into Waterside. Or there are delightful forest treks leading from Bellsbank, south of Dalmellington, towards Loch Doon. As with all walks in any area that you are unfamiliar with, you should have your map and a compass (and you should know how to use them!), and you should have sensible clothing and footwear and perhaps even tell someone where you are going for the day. But most of all, you should enjoy the great outdoors and all that it has to offer. In the case of Dalmellington, what it offers is out of this world. [CLICK HERE FOR A SPECIAL PAGE WITH AN INTERACTIVE MAP OF THE AREA.]

USING YOUR MAP - A SMALL LECTURE
I suppose many folk who are unfamiliar with maps could be put off by that initial visual complexity of what is basically a sheet of paper festooned with lines and colours. This, I can understand. And so, with that in mind, I thought I'd impart some of my knowledge in the hope that you will get familiar with and grow to love your map, as having one opens up a whole new world that you probably didn't know existed.
So, hopefully you've got your Sheet 77 map, as detailed above in the 'Little Walks and Big Walks' section. Okay?
Right, open out your map on the floor or a table. Big, huh? You'll be delighted to know that you are not expected to wander through the countryside with it opened up like this. Folding is permitted. Practise folding it so that it becomes the same size as it originally was when you bought it, although with the bit you are interested in at the top and always in view. This skill may take several years to master. Alternatively, the day before each hike, take it back to the shop and ask them to fold it as instructed. If they refuse, lay your head on the shop counter and weep.
And so, thus adept at map folding, you may open it all out and look down upon the intriguing web. You see all those green bits? Well, that's forest, and if you look real close you may even see little trees. If you look even closer you may see pixies.
The areas that are not green may look at first glance like a confused nightmare of lines. Many of these areas are white with many wavy brown lines. These are an indication of steepness of the ground, the closer the brown lines are the steeper the ground. Amongst these brown contour lines you may even see numbers. This is the height, in metres.
There are many other lines. Most of the coloured thick ones are roads, coming in red or orange or yellow. Motorways are blue, although there are thankfully no motorways in the sheet 77 area. Yet.
Other lighter blue areas are generally water. You may see large blue lochs or long winding rivers and streams. If you go for a swim and find yourself thrashing around on a lump of black tarmac with vehicles roaring past at great speed, you'll know you've mixed up your motorways and your rivers.
You may see other very thin black lines, which can be overhead power lines or, if dotted, tracks and paths, or even boundaries.
Now, spend a while reading through the legend on your map, and you'll see exactly what all these things are.
Right, now that we're all experts, let's look at Dalmellington. You'll see it near the top left of the map, above, or north of, the big blue splodge that is Loch Doon. See it?
Now, the important thing about map reading is to have a little bit of common sense. And here's why. During my day in Dalmellington I decided to walk through woodland in Bellsbank Plantation towards Loch Doon. The problem was that as soon as I stepped off the bus in Bellsbank, I was not entirely sure where I was. I knew roughly where I was, as I'd followed the route the bus took with a finger on my map, but I was unsure which little road in the housing scheme I was on. And this is where common sense comes into play.
The track I intended to follow initially runs quite close to the part of the River Doon that links Bogton Loch with Loch Doon. See it? It therefore stood to reason that if I headed south-west (what - you mean you don't have a compass - then go out right now and buy one... sheesht!), making sure not to go uphill, I would come to the track before I came to the river, as I did.
To be honest, once you start to tramp around the great outdoors, map at hand, you start to get an instinctive feel for things and find your body homing in on the right location. Some times.
At other times you think you're following a particular path, then all of a sudden you get a horrible panicky feeling and realise you are miles from where you should be and probably on the wrong path. This can happen a lot in woodland. Indeed, it happened on a few occasions during my day here; branches in the path that you wonder if you should follow but you're not sure where the branch is on your map. You will even find paths that are not on your map. How old is your map? Look at the date in the bottom left-hand corner. It could be ten years out of date and some goblins might have built a few new paths in the intervening years.
But, again, that's where common sense comes into it. Always keep your eyes peeled for recognisable features that are likely to be on your map, like tiny bridges over rivers. If you look at the river south of Bogton Loch you will see maybe three bridges over the river between there and Loch Doon. Some might be overgrown and hard to see, but they will still be bridges. Other features to watch out for could be overhead power cables, buildings, roads, small lochs, etc, etc.
At least that's the theory, according to The Soupsayer. The most important thing is that you stay safe. Try to become gradually familiar with how to use your map. Don't take too many initial risks.
Some final words of advice... always take a few moments out from your wander to hug a tree. Don't swim on motorways, and don't eat worms.