Regarding the place where Murdoch MacLean came from.

The West Highlands of Scotland, of which I confess a total lack of acquaintance, is one of several regions highlighted on the UK website for "undiscovered Scotland." Because I have heard of Hamish Macbeth, I have heard of Plockton, but didn't know where it was.

Loch Long is distinctive on a map, small as it is. Even maps that label only the big lochs, and neglect to label Loch Long, will at least label Loch Alsh; there is a third loch whose name already escapes me after just looking at it, and these three lochs kind of pour into each other at one place. Ferries preceded bridges for traveling, historically, at that confluence. It is at its southwest tip that Loch Long forms part of the coastline, according to the Bing map online, and encounters the other two lochs.

Murdoch MacLean's native Kintail appears to be at near the part of Loch Long furthest away from Loch Alsh (Kyle?), the tip of the lake at its furthest northeast and inland. Certainly it is mountainous. Killilan, where MacLean went to school, appears to be on the shore of Loch Long. A canal connecting Loch Long to a little loch further inland, to the east, is named for Elchaig.

Coillerigh, also Coil-an-riugh and other variations, seems to be the name of a mountain or the foothills near a mountain. Glen Elchaig, I have yet to discover which trust administers it, it seems to be a preserve for deer. There was a guest resort that claimed to be in Glen Elchaig, which posted a little blurb at Undiscovered Scotland; but the link to the resort's website does not function.

"Songs of a Roving Celt" contains a poem portraying an exiled Highlander, longing for Torridon. Torridon has a loch and a castle; it is north of Loch Long.

This is all reasonably near the Isle of Skye.