Glen Coe around Invercoe. In 1894 Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal purchased this area and built a stately mansion, Mount Royal. In 2002 Alistair MacDonald of Glencoe made a successful eleventh-hour bid, and purchased the remaining lands of Lord Strathcona from his descendants. Alistair received unsecured loans from just six donors, and immediately set up the Glencoe Heritage Trust, a non-profit-making charitable trust, to secure the heritage of this part of Glen Coe. Glen Coe is a very popular tourist destination: partly because of its scenic qualities and historical associations, partly because it is on the main road
Glen Coe mountain, the Aonach Eagach ridge. The ridge is crossed at the eastern end by the Devil's Staircase, an old military road opposite Buachaille Etive Mòr. The western end terminates with the conical Pap of Glencoe ("Sgùrr na Cìche"), above Glencoe village, at the point where the glen opens out to Loch Leven. Geologically speaking, Glen Coe is the remains of an ancient supervolcano. It is considered to be one of the best examples of subsidence calderas. The eruption happened about 420 million years ago during the Silurian period, and the volcano has long since become extinct. The landscape was further