Ullapool is a white-painted fishing village laid out on a grid, which in the Highlands is as unusual as a roundabout. The British Fisheries Society planned it in 1788 as a base for herring boats on the shore of Loch Broom, and the long straight streets facing the water reflect that planning. Today about fifteen hundred people live here, the harbour is busy with creel boats and the ferry to Stornoway on Lewis, and in summer the quay fills with visitors eating chips from paper and looking out to the hills.
North and west of town the landscape becomes theatrical. The A835 climbs out of the village past Corrieshalloch Gorge, a deep wooded slot with a suspension bridge across it, then continues to the high moorland of Inverpolly and the strange isolated peaks of Assynt, Suilven and Stac Pollaidh, which rise from boggy ground like stranded ships. The rock is some of the oldest in Britain, gnarled Lewisian gneiss and Torridonian sandstone, billions of years in the making. Red deer cross the roads, and golden eagles hang over the ridges.
As part of the North Coast 500, Ullapool is a convenient place for supplies, and a pleasant place to pause. The road north is a mixture of fast, wide sections and single-track lanes with passing places, so learn the etiquette. Pull in to the left or opposite a passing place, wave thanks, and do not park in them. Sheep wander, caravans trundle, and the weather, always fickle, can go from clear to horizontal rain in half an hour. Midges are fierce on still summer evenings, especially from June to August. The best months are probably May, early June and September.
Fuel is plentiful in Ullapool, whereas north of here pumps are fewer and sometimes close early, so fill the tank before leaving. There is a good choice of cafés, bakeries and seafood places, and the local langoustines, landed from the loch, are worth ordering. If the evening is clear, walk to the end of the harbour and look across the water to the hills.