Ullapool Lugger Fest 2024

We had a fantastic day in Ullapool. It was the Lugger Fest, ‘ a festival of traditional boats and maritime heritage.’ It’s a new festival and I only found out about through a photo someone had posted on Facebook.
It was our 39th Wedding Anniversary and we had planned to stay in and just go to Cromarty for a pizza later in the day but the forecast was so good we headed for Ullapool.
We had a good drive just stopping for our usual bacon and egg roll. We could see smoke in the distance and wondered if it was a gorse fire but as we got closer we saw that it was a car well ablaze and spreading fast. The two young ladies were watching on as their car went up in flames. We saw the police and fire engine approaching which was impressive as it was a fair distance from Ullapool. Hopefully they were ok. ( all cleared on our return journey).
We managed to park down a side street and walked down to the harbour. Ullapool is a very pretty place with quaint houses and a mass of flowers in every garden.
A few boats were out on the water . Traditional boats used during the herring industry. The extremely huge yacht in the distance is the Eos owned by American Billionaire , media baron Barry Diller and his fashion designer wife Diane von Furstenberg. I’ve never heard of them. It is thought to be the 5th largest privately owned sailing yacht in the world.
We listened to a talk about research into where the herring are breeding, very interesting. We had a tasty gelato whilst listening in the cool of the tent.
A wander around looking at all the boats. You could walk down the gangways and get very close to the action.
We listened to a group of musicians playing away on one of the boats.
Feeling hungry we had a goats cheese and red onion pizza, soo good.
Back to the car to cool off and rest our feet. We had a quick drive up to Ardmair Bay and had a cup of tea from the flask.
Back down to Ullapool to see the ‘parade of sail’ fantastic to see all the boats sailing out with the magnificent view in front of them :)