Christmas spirit in Ullapool

Today we went for a drive to Ullapool which is on the northwest coast of Scotland and 71 miles away from Nairn - here's a little map to show you where it is. We're the blue dot and the red marker is over Ullapool.

It's a lovely little town and it's been dressed up really nicely for Christmas. Here's a little teaser - guess what these lobster pots have to do with the festive season.

The town sits on Loch Broom and hosts the music festival Loopallu (see what they've done there - turned the name around) each year - it's on our list of things to do in 2017 and is held at the end of September.

We found a lovely little fixer upper that sits on the front facing the loch - it's just a little remote for work.

We had a lovely lunch in the Arch Inn and whilst there read about a competition that was running where school children had made advent calendars and they were displayed in various businesses around the town. We managed to find four of them with my favourite being the gingerbread house.

In the park there were these three boats with sails made out of lights - really nice.

Fish and water themed park bench.

Lots of the boats around the harbour are it up for Christmas which is really lovely - it's nice to see a community coming together to make their town look so pretty.

Christmas tree at the entrance to the harbour.

We stopped at the Ceilidh Place for coffee and a mince pie - it's a lovely pub/hotel and even has a bookshop attached to it. It was so nice to get out of the cold and enjoy the wood burner that was kicking out quite a lot of heat.

Now back to those lobster pots. Ullapool has a fabulous town Christmas tree made out of lobster pots and instead of a star or angel on top they've got a crab. It's uniquely fabulous.

We of course had to stay until the lights were turned on so that we could enjoy the quirky beauty.

When it became dark we noticed even more boats that were lit up out in the loch.

We loved the way they've hung up the Christmas lights in the shape of boat sails - when you looked along the front of the town it looked very impressive and very festive.

The boats in the park showing up more in the dark.

 A house that we passed on the way home - what the picture doesn't show is that the lit up deer in front of the house was moving it's head back and forth.

On the way home we stopped at a local supermarket for a few things and enjoyed the artistic talents of one of the local schools. There were several notice boards covered with different pictures from the various age groups. For my Tassie family and friends you'll notice that the village has a very familiar name.

That's it for today - only seven days until Santa Claus comes to visit. Until next time be good (especially important at this time of year), stay safe, and have a wonderful week.

Pamela & Ken
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P.S: Final shot is a beautiful sunset that we spotted yesterday when we were out for a drive.