Where the Light Sings: Live from Ardnamurchan

For this second light of the day, Tom Service presents live from the Highlands of Scotland in the most westerly lighthouse on the British mainland - Ardnamurchan Lighthouse.

The lighthouse sits in the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula in the West Highlands of Scotland, 5 hours from Glasgow and west of Fort William, with its northern coast looking out towards the Hebridean islands of Skye, Eigg and Rum. The lighthouse has been guiding ships safely through the waters off Scotland’s west coast since 1849.

Members of the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse Trust will take Tom up its 152 steps and throughout the show explain its rich history and importance to the local community. From its design by Alan Stevenson, uncle of Robert Louis Stevenson, whose family designed most of Scotland’s lighthouses, to its still vital role today overseeing the rocky West Highland coast.

There'll be live music in the lighthouse from singer and broadcaster Mary Ann Kennedy and guitarist Finlay Wells, and Tom will take a tour of the Ardnamurchan coast to see some of the treasures the lighthouse presides over. Had the lighthouse stood 1000 years ago, it would have seen Viking boats arrive on the coast, and Tom meets some of the archaeologists responsible for uncovering a Viking Boat burial there a few years ago.

The Lighthouse is also the sole mainland watch point in the Hebridean Whale Trail where members of the public join in to monitor the thousands of whales who make their way through the inner Hebrides each year. Tom chats to Siobhan Moran of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust about the importance of the Lighthouse in helping keep track of one of most important marine habitats in Europe.

One by one, the lights come on…

In the week of World Maritime Day, Radio 3 embarks on a unique live journey around Britain’s coastline, marking the 200th anniversary of Longstone Lighthouse and celebrating the lights that have guarded our shores for generations.

Across twelve hours of live broadcasting, Where the Light Sings travels the length and breadth of the UK in a lighthouse relay, broadcasting from wild and remote places rarely heard on national radio. Presenters around the coast will pass the baton from Dungeness in Kent to Ardnamurchan in Scotland, Strumble Head in Wales, Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland and St Aidan's Church in Bamburgh, where the legendary Victorian lighthouse heroine Grace Darling is buried, before the journey heads towards the far south-western edges of Britain.

Petroc Trelawny anchors the adventure, with a special journey of his own - providing updates along the way - to reach his location for the final broadcast of the day as the sun goes down.

Music provides the soundtrack to the journey, from great classical works inspired by the sea, islands and lighthouses, to music rooted in the landscapes and communities around them. Live performances from around the coastline sit alongside the elemental sounds of the sea - crashing waves, wind, gulls and bells - and voices of lighthouse keepers, engineers, lifesavers, sailors, and those whose lives have been shaped by these extraordinary places.

From the first broadcast on the shingle landscape of Dungeness to a final destination on the Atlantic edge of Britain as darkness falls, Where the Light Sings is a shared adventure and a celebration of light, music and our enduring relationship with the sea.