Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Loch Ba
Q2. Ulva
The initial clues seem to place us at the memorial lighthouse, near Duart point, on the Isle of Mull, in the Inner Hebrides.The licht is known as Black's Tower, after the novelist William Black (born c 1841, died 1898), it seems to have been designed by the architect Sir William Lieper and completed c 1900. Black wrote several novels, including one titled 'Love or Marriage' c 1867 , which he liked to describe in later years as ' fortunately out of print', as it was not very successful. He also wrote a book called 'A Princess of Thule', which the Eastender is going to download from the archives to have a read of later, to see if Mr Black was a dabbler in the esoteric arts, as he believes that the Silmarillion is about Thule (and some of the very dodgy sects located just across the water to the east of the UK) and that old J.R.R Tolkien's descriptions of it were influenced by Blavatsky's 'The Secret Doctrine' (published c1888 ) and/or by knowledge imparted to him on the subject, by some of the occultists in his circle, 'The Inklings', such as Owen Barfield (disciple of the Theosophist Rudolf Steiner) and Charles Williams (writer of supernatural tales and member of some 'interesting clubs').
I digress, Duart point was said to be one of William Black's favourite places and looking north east from there, he would have been able to see the lighthouse on Eilean Musdile. Some of the sources I checked say that this light is twenty six metres or eighty five feet high and has a range of seventeen nautical miles. There is another beacon located due east of the memorial, called Lady's Rock lighthouse but this is not as high as the one in the description and only has a range of five nautical miles. The lady in question (Lady Elizabeth) was marooned there as crab bait by her delightful ogre of a husband, one of the lords of Duart but seems to have been rescued by a passing fisherman, before the tide came in.
Around 1653, a fleet of six ships dispatched by the psychopath Oliver Cromwell, arrived in the sound of Mull to bombard Duart Castle (built c 13th century) but fortunately the McCleans who lived there had shot the craw to Tiree, before they showed up. The fleet dropped anchor but was hit by a torbellino c 13th September 1653, with three vessels being sunk, one of which (HMS Swan) was later discovered on the sea floor c 1979, by a navy diver, with all sorts of archaeological goodies subsequently being dredged up from it.
Driving north from Duart castle would bring us past Torosay castle, which appears to have been built for John Campbell of Possil (c 1858 ) by architect David Bryce. Continuing north would lead us to the site of the ruined 13th Century 'Aros Castle'. The puzzle author is not kidding when he says this lies in a setting of unimaginable beauty.
Backtracking from Aros Castle, would take us to Salen, where a right turn would bring us onto the B8035 and thence to Gruline, where lies the Mausoleum of Major General Lachlan Macquarie of Ulva (b 1761 d 1824) , aka Governor of New South Wales and Father of Australia. Gruline is near Loch Ba, likely the sheep sounding lake in the clues. Taking the B8073 west out of Gruline, would eventually bring you to the ferry which goes across the water to Ulva, birthplace of said Major General and of the missionary explorer David Livingstone's father.The highest point on Ulva, according to the OS map, is Beinn Chreagach, at one thousand and twenty seven feet or three hundred and thirteen metres,
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it
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