The Nadgery Road to Cemaes

On the way to a singing workshop in Cemaes today the word nadgery was used to describe the road. From the context I guessed that it meant winding, but as I hadn’t heard the word before I checked, and was told that it’s a dialect word from the north east of England. It doesn’t appear in the OED or in any other dictionary I’ve looked in, but is used online, often in reference to roads. Have you heard it before, or used it? Do you have others words to describe winding roads?

The Nadgery Road to Cemaes could be the title of a tune and/or a song. Maybe I’ll try to write one using it. There is a song called The Rocky Road to Dublin, after all.

2 thoughts on “The Nadgery Road to Cemaes

  1. I’m still no further forward finding the origin of ‘nadgery’ but my google searches confirm that it’s used by 2 and 4 wheel users to describe a narrow and windy route, perhaps tricky in places. I suspect it’s been made up at some point and has spread through the motoring/biking world! Have found claims that it originated in Derbyshire too – perhaps we’ll never know!!
    Nel 🙂

  2. Been using the word Nadgery for years. Mostly in relation to a difficult decent off a mountain ie the route down is a bit nadgery.

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