At 3:54 pm +0000 18/03/07, Martin Briscoe wrote:
A bit off topic but I wonder if anyone knows where the Bwlch y Goerd
is?
Someone asking in another area about a 1920s book which mentions the Bwlch y
Goerd road to Bala. I can't find it on any maps (allowing for spelling
being wrong also), all that I can find on the web is a couple of pictures
taken around the same period but they just describe it as the road to Bala.
The general layout on the pictures looks a bit like the B4391 coming up from
Llangynog but that is just a guess.
Martin Briscoe
Fort William
M&LFHS | Gwynedd FHS
Goerd appears corrupted--it certainly isn't a Welsh word. Could be
Gored, a contraction of Agored (Open) but you certainly would not
have 'Bwlch y Agored' and there is no pass called 'Bwlch Agored' in
the vicinity of Bala.
My hunch is that it is 'Bwlch y Groes'.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bwlch_y_Groes
Unfortunately no photos of the infamously steep pass itself. It
starts at the head of the Dovey valley north of LLanymawddwy, summits
at SH913233 before descending relatively gently to Llanuwchllyn (and
Bala). Because of its unrelenting steepness it was used in the past
to test prototype cars. It is 2.5 km long and has an average gradient
of over 1 in 7.
--
Regards
Dick Jones Leigh-on-Sea Essex UK
rcjones(a)rmplc.co.uk