Bwlch Oerddrws Pass 

‘The top of the pass was at only 1200 feet. But more snow, and full exposure to an easterly gale, made conditions unpleasantly bleak. Mr Loudon helped to fit drags to slow the coach and recommended a pull chain so that they could be raised and lowered as required.’ This is a quote from The Claudians: gardens, landscapes, reason and faith: John Claudius Loudon and Claudius Buchanan, Tom Turner (Kindle, 2024).

More about Bwlch Oerddrws Pass

Here is an 1815 account of crossing the pass from east to west: ‘We had here to climb what the Welsh call a Balch, which literally means a notch, but is used to denote a gap between two summits. Our road was cut on the side of one of the mountains, and ascended till it reached the pass, by which time it looked down a frightful precipice. The ascent was a mile, and without a fence. It is called Bwlch Oerddrws. As we walked slowly up the mountain we were overtaken by a Welshman on his pony, and a woman on foot, who was fully a match for him and his horse. It was a comfort to meet with our fellow creatures in so desolate a region, though we could not communicate our ideas to each other. The ideas of the woman, if we might judge by her words, were very copious, for her tongue was never at rest. They accompanied us to Dolgellen (Dolgellau), nearly six miles, keeping close to our horses' heels; walking when we walked, and trotting when we trotted; the woman trudging barefooted, always talking, never out of breath or discovering the smallest symptom of fatigue. The top of Bwlch Oerddrws is so tremendous on a stormy day, that horses have been frequently known to turn back, and could scarcely be made to pass it. On the other side the descent was not steep; but the face of the country was changed, and the sheep were become real stones, sprouting out of the scanty herbage. I saw a rill spring up under my feet, at Dolgellen it was navigable, and at Barmouth a sea. This was very fine, but not strictly true, for I have since found that it is joined by another river, both at and after Dolgellen·’ [The Monthly Magazine: Or, British Register, No. 270, Volume 39 1815 ]