Bwlch Oerddrws – ColdDoor Col – South Snowdonia
The Legend of the Bandits
The Gwylliaid Cochion, the notorious Red Bandits, terrorised the local population in the mid 16th century. Travellers struggling up the steep road to Bwlch Oerddrws were easy prey. In December 1554 Baron Lewis Owen of Cwrt Plas-yn-dre gathered a large group of soldiers and men from Dolgellau and attacked the bandits in their stronghold near Mallwyd, where the Brigands Inn is today. Most of the bandits were hanged in front of their families but Baron Owen was cursed by the bandits’ wives and some bandits escaped.
Almost a year later, one of Baron Owen’s servants came riding into Dolgellau. He was almost dead. The Baron had been ambushed and killed by the survivors of the Red Bandits, where the road to England crosses the Afon Clywedog. This place is called Llidiart y Barwn (Baron’s Gate) now. You’ll know it well, as the road does sharp hairpin bend across a narrow bridge here. The people in Dolgellau were so angry that they hunted down all of the bandits and their families and killed every last one of them. This finally ended the Red Bandits’ reign.
Nearby Caches
When I created The Big Wheel – Dinas Mawddwy cache (GC10Z0K), I commented that one of the ways to get to the cache is via the brilliant ridge walk across Maesglasau, starting from Bwlch Oerddrws. Early on your walk, you'll pass uze's Craig y Bwlch cache (GC1CCBH). If you want to head north from Bwlch Oerddrws, I had a beautiful evenings’ run along the ridge to charlieg0pzo’s Glasgwm cache (GC125J0). It took me 2 hrs, there & back, but the ground was unusually dry! Alternatively you could collect a cavalcade of col caches by car and combine this with Dysynni Squeezeboxers’ Tal-y-Llyn Pass Cache Dash (GCVAPM) and Woooodentop’s Top o’th’hill (GCQKQ4). Or you could just do this cache on the way to the seaside!
The Cache
The answers to the questions are either around the car park or on a map or road atlas. The cache should be a fun challenge for kids (young & old). The car park is quite big and you don’t need to cross the road to do the cache, but please be careful next to this busy main road. The terrain around the car park is a bit boggy in places so tread carefully or bring some wellies! The cache is sort of half way between a small cache and a micro. There isn’t really any space for swaps, just geo-coins and small travel bugs. On weekdays in good weather, the carpark can be jammed full, not with hillwalkers' but plan spotters' cars. This is a prime photo location on the "Dyfi Loop". For more information and some spectacular photos, have a look at www.lowfly.net.
Please note that the co-ordinates at the top of the webpage are for the car park, not the cache!
Questions
1. When did Daffydd Rogers preach here? See the photo attached to the cache description page. ABCD
2. How many keyholes are there on the orange obelisk? E
3. How steep is the road down towards Dinas Mawddwy? FG
4. What is the number of the A road that you are parked next to? HIJ
Co-ordinates
The north co-ordinate is N 52° (26.095 + AB.CDE)
The west co-ordinate is W 003° (32.143 + FG.HIJ)
I recommend bringing a calculator to do this one! (My mobile phone has one built in)
More to read
& “Folk Tales & Heroes of Wales, Volume 2” by John Owen Huws, ISBN 0-86381-885-4, a series of 3 books written for children.