International
communist links, music bonanzas, tales of grand drug busts and enough
nationalities to tempt Kofi Annan to hold a UN summit here, it’s what
the Scottish highlands are all about - or more specifically, Ullapool
in Wester Ross.
As a city boy from the
southern end of this country of tartan and tweed I’d always envisaged
the small coastal town of Ullapool as a backwater filled with country
bumpkins. When I arrived I was convinced that any female looking my way
was analysing my gene pool and sizing me up for fatherhood. However
I’ve come to realise that as a child of suburbia, I’m the one that’s
led a sheltered life. Ullapool has, in years gone by, been the centre
of international attention on more than one occasion.
As a major fishing port it
became a popular spot for the fish factory ships of the old Eastern
bloc during the 70s and 80s. Our commie cousins were lured to the
fertile waters of Loch Broom and beyond by the humble little mackerel.
The boats came en masse. At one point it was common to have as many as
70 factory boats in the loch at one time and the resulting mass of
fishy folk that came with these vessels became known as the klondykers.
These chaps had a huge influence on the town.
Not only did
the numerous nationalities give Ullapool a cosmopolitan air but the
local economy boomed as the materialistically deprived Soviets went on
retail splurges. Such was the extent of their capitalist outburst that
special shopping buses were arranged to take the newly empowered
consumers to Inverness, the epicentre of highland retailing.
The good times, however,
couldn’t last forever. Mackerel prices plummeted and the USSR collapsed
(possibly a connection…?). The klondykers stopped coming. Instead,
Ullapool became the focus of one the largest ever drug-bust operations
in the UK, Operation Klondyke!
A local of the village known
as “Crazy Chris” found himself in company appropriate to his name and
he became involved in a drug smuggling ring that had connections in
Spain, Gibraltar, Venezuela and even Columbian drug cartels. The result
was illegal narcotics being smuggled into the UK through Ullapool and
surrounds. However, the boys in blue had it all in hand and
subsequently Mr Crazy Chris is now behind bars at Her Majesty’s
Pleasure after half a tonne of Columbian cocaine was caught on its way
south to London.
These days Ullapool doesn’t
offer international drug busts or any solid communist connections. It
does however retain a touch of the cosmopolitan. Just the other night I
found myself in a local ale establishment being served by a Slovakian
barmaid whilst I chatted to a couple of fishermen from Mozambique and
Spain. The town is now also a year round music venue with everything
from ceilidhs to rock concerts. October sees the town holding its
annual guitar festival and 2009 is the fifth year for the up and coming Loopallu festival, with previous headliners such as The View and last years Red Hot Chilli Pipers.
Drugs and the communist
world aside, I’ll settle for some international banter and maybe a wee
sing-song. There’s a lot to learn from these “country bumpkins.”
