Contacts
Harbour Master VHF #14, tel 01854 612724, mob 07734 004843.

There has been some sort of settlement here since before the annals of time.  Throughout the middle ages it was squabbled over by the Mackenzies and the Macleods but that was sorted by a marriage. It had been a landing point for fishing until it was taken over by the British Fishery Society in 1788 when they really started to organise the village and develop the pier.  It eventually became the place for the annual herring fishing to start. Boats came round from the East Coast and Ireland and their women folk came with them to gut fish on the dockside, starting here and following the herring right round Cape Wrath to Whitby in North Yorkshire and Yarmouth in East Anglia.

Over the years the herring became over fished and mackerel gained in popularity; there was a period during the latter part of the 20th Century when Loch Broom was home to a veritable fleet of foreign factory ships who would process any fish that were available and ship them home to their own countries but even that has died away. There are still fish landed here but they are mainly crustaceans and some white fish within strict quotas. There is no processing here, everything is landed in ice and transported away by road.

The village has been built on a shingle delta at the mouth of the Ullapool River which forms a sheltered anchorage on its South Eastern side. A pier and Roro ferry terminal have been built and the rest of the little bay is given over to moorings for leisure craft. There is a small pontoon on the inside of the pier but this is for landing and boarding only, you can’t tie up there for the night.

Tourism has taken over from fishing as the main industry here, there are still catches landed here but the Cal-Mac ferry is arguably the main user of the pier now and yachties land by dinghy at the small slip by the Gleaners Petrol Station on the shore.

The Ullapool website is at http://www.ullapool-harbour.co.uk/ 

The approach to Ullapool is simplicity itself. One just follows Loch broom in from the open sea into the narrows before the harbour.

If coming from the North, the scenic route is well recommended. Come down inside the Summer Isles (a lovely place to stop, but the small bay at the NW end of Tanera More is preferable to the bay on the East side) Then shape a course for Horse Sound and pass between Rubha Dubh Ard and Mary Rock.  You then have the choice of going inside or outside Isle Martin; we took the inside course but without the GPS would have been stuck to find the deep between the island and the mainland. Try as we could we couldn’t make out any “streak” darker than the rest (see AC 2500-0)!!!
If you are coming round from Loch Ewe watch out for that off shore rock at the top end of the peninsula between Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom; otherwise it’s quite safe.

In the final approach up Loch Broom aim to leave the red PHM off Ullapool Point just to starboard and that way you’ll be out of the way of any trawlers or ferries coming out from behind Ullapool at the last moment.

The moorings at Ullapool are out of sight as you approach but they do come into sight as you pass the point and can turn in towards them.

There are plenty of well maintained blue moorings for visitors at the west side of the trots which become obvious as you pass the pier.

They are laid out between the 5 and 10 metre contours so there is plenty of water.  One thing you will find is that the end of the mooring line has a very heavy, lead dead eye (see our picture in the gallery) and it will take a good pull to get it aboard even in still wind conditions; aim to pick it up from the lea side of the bow (if anything) so that, if drifting,you are drifting down onto it, not away from it.  Single handed it was not the “walk in the park” that it normally is.  They are charging £13 per night irrespective of boat length.(2022)

There is a slip near the garage opposite the mooring trots where you can land your dinghy (don't forget to move the dinghy up the slip above the water line as it becomes submerged at HW)

If you prefer to anchor away from the hustle of the town’s  there are plenty of places to anchor in Loch Broom but you will need an outboard on your dinghy to get to the town.

Obviously there are no facilities at the buoys but diesel fuel can be bunkered at the pier and if you have a lot of shopping you can, by arrangement with the HM, drop alongside the pontoon to load it (and, if needed, petrol). The Gleaner’s Garage on the shore has Calor Gas and Camping Gaz (at Lowland prices!!)
Showers can be found in the refurbished block in the ferry car park or at the Leisure Centre.
There is a marine electronics place in the trading estate opposite Tesco but no chandlers.

Victualing is not a problem; the large Tesco not far from the shore line

There plenty of places to eat and watering holes to choose from.
There are loads of souvenir shops but if it’s tweed you’re after wait until you get to Stornoway.

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