Ullapool town is very picturesque, but I was surprised by the layout which is basically a grid system. Not at all usual in the UK. However it seems that Ullapool was founded by the British Fisheries Society around 1788 as a fishing station, with boats mostly fishing for herring. The village (as it was then) was laid out deliberately on a grid system, with wide avenues, and terraces of houses with large gardens for folk to grow vegetables. The fishing industry has gone through decline and increase over the succeeding years, including "Klondikers" - large factory ships anchored in Loch Broom. Now the local fishing fleet consists of just a dozen boats who fish for prawns, lobsters, scallops and crab.
In latter years of course, like many other sea ports, tourism has increased with former fishing vessels providing trips to nearby islands. There are various festivals too, the weekend we arrived there was a Gaelic music festival, and the following weekend a literary festival. I managed to get to one of the readings given by Glasgow author, Anne Donavan, who read from her new book in dialect "Being Emily". I so enjoyed the reading, I'm now reading the book.
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