Ullapool Webcam – Harbour Views Down Loch Broom

The Ullapool Webcam sits on the Wee Pier, a small jetty owned by the harbour, and looks south-east down Loch Broom on the north-west coast of the Scottish Highlands. A narrow concrete pier and the slipway beside it run out from the bottom of the frame over a shingle shore, and beyond them the loch opens up, with yachts and small workboats swinging on their moorings. Wooded slopes and a few houses line the left-hand shore, bare hills rise on the right, and a further ridge of mountains closes the view at the far end of the water. The tide reshapes the picture through the day, covering the weed-dark shingle at high water and baring it again hours later, while showers and breaks of sun cross the hills.

About Ullapool

Ullapool stands on the eastern shore of Loch Broom, a sea loch in the Highland council area, around 70 kilometers (45 miles) north-west of Inverness. The British Fisheries Society founded it as a herring port in 1788, and Thomas Telford designed the village. The name is usually traced to Norse settlers, with “Ulli’s farm” and “wool farm” among the suggested meanings. About 1,500 people live here today.

The camera belongs to Ullapool Harbour Trust, which put it on the Wee Pier so that people using the small pier can check conditions on the loch before they set out. The harbour’s main customer is Caledonian MacBrayne, whose ferry MV Loch Seaforth crosses the Minch to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. Built in 2014, she is 116 meters (381 feet) long and carries up to 700 passengers and 143 cars. The ferry berths at the main pier on the west side of the village, and this camera faces the other way, down the inner loch.

The water in front of the lens has a busy past. After the Second World War the harbour was doubled in size to cope with the herring landings, and from the late 1960s factory ships known as klondykers gathered here for herring and later mackerel, with up to 70 of them in the bay at one time. Most of the boats in shot now are yachts and small workboats. The harbour keeps 12 trot moorings for visiting vessels of up to 15 meters (49 feet), a refurbished launching jetty sits next to the moorings for dinghy runs ashore, and Lochbroom Sailing Club is close by.

Weather and Climate in Ullapool

The Atlantic keeps Ullapool mild for a place close to 58 degrees north. Winter days typically reach 6 to 7 C (43 to 45 F), with nights around 2 to 3 C (36 to 37 F). Spring warms slowly, with April highs near 11 C (52 F), and summer peaks at about 16 to 17 C (61 to 63 F) in July and August. October through January is usually the wettest stretch of the year, and sunshine is limited to roughly 1,100 hours a year, so the camera can show rain squalls moving down the loch with the cloud sitting low on the hills.

Daylight swings hard at this latitude. Around the June solstice the sun is up for about 18 hours, and at midnight it dips less than 9 degrees below the horizon, so the sky over the loch never gets fully dark. In late December the day shrinks to about six and a half hours and the noon sun climbs only around 9 degrees, which leaves the picture dim for much of a winter day. In autumn the hillsides on the right of the frame turn russet brown.

Things to Do Near Ullapool

Ullapool Museum, on West Argyle Street a few minutes’ walk from the shore, covers local life, maritime history, the fishing industry and the Gaelic culture of the area. Among its exhibits is a soapstone bowl found on the island of Tanera, one of several such bowls the harbour trust links to Viking settlers. The museum is seasonal and closes for the winter at the end of October. For a walk with some history in it, the remains of the Iron Age fort at Dun Canna lie a few miles north of the village, and Ullapool Leisure Centre has a swimming pool, sauna and gym for wet days.

Out on the water, boats sail from Ullapool to the Summer Isles, the archipelago at the mouth of Loch Broom, of which Tanera Mor is the largest island. The CalMac ferry to Stornoway crosses the Minch, and the harbour trust notes that its viewing deck is a good place to watch for marine wildlife on the way. Inland, Corrieshalloch Gorge lies about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south near Braemore, where a 25 meter (82 foot) footbridge built by Sir John Fowler, one of the designers of the Forth Bridge, spans the gorge below the Falls of Measach. The Ullapool Guitar Festival takes place in the village in early October.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

Follow the ferry across the Minch, or stay with Scottish water and boats, on these cameras.

• Stornoway Harbour Webcam
• Troon Marina Webcam
• Loch Ness Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Ullapool located?

Ullapool is a village on the eastern shore of Loch Broom in the Highland council area of north-west Scotland, United Kingdom. It lies around 70 kilometers (45 miles) north-west of Inverness.

What can you see on the Ullapool Webcam?

The camera looks south-east from the Wee Pier down Loch Broom. In the foreground are the pier, a concrete slipway and the shingle shore, with yachts and small boats on moorings in the middle distance, wooded slopes on the left, bare hills on the right and mountains at the far end of the loch.

What is the weather like in Ullapool?

Mild and wet for its latitude. Winter highs are typically 6 to 7 C (43 to 45 F), July and August reach about 16 to 17 C (61 to 63 F), and October to January is usually the wettest period.

Can you see the Stornoway ferry on the Ullapool Webcam?

Not usually. The MV Loch Seaforth berths at the main pier on the west side of the village and sails out through the outer loch towards the Minch, while this camera faces south-east down the inner loch. What it shows instead are the moorings and small boats off the Wee Pier.

Who runs the camera on the Wee Pier?

Ullapool Harbour Trust installed it on the harbour-owned Wee Pier. The trust says the stream is there for safety, so that small pier users can watch live weather conditions, and to show the view down Loch Broom.

When is the best time to watch the Ullapool Webcam?

Around midday in winter, when the low sun gives the loch its brightest few hours, and almost any time in summer, when the day lasts about 18 hours and the sky never gets fully dark. Rising and falling tides change the shoreline in the foreground throughout the day.

How do you get to Ullapool?

By road from Inverness, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) away, or by CalMac ferry from Stornoway on Lewis.

Source: Ullapool Harbour Trust