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On page 305 of Unfinished Tales, there is a passage regarding the boundaries of Rohan:

The bounds of the realm of Eorl were to be: in the West the river Angren from its junction with the Adorn and thence northwards to the outer fences of Angrenost, and thence westwards and northwards along the eaves of Fangorn Forest to the river Limlight; and that river was its northern boundary, for the land beyond had never been claimed by Gondor.

Here, it is stated that the western boundaries of Rohan extend from Isengard 'westwards and northwards along the eaves of Fangorn Forest to the river Limlight'. How can this be true, given that Fangorn is to the east of Isengard?

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    Given what you said, it sounds like an error. It might be helpful to quote a longer segment of text, though so the context of the quote is clear.
    – Mark Olson
    Aug 4, 2021 at 20:08
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    'The bounds of the realm of Eorl were to be: in the West the river Angren from it's junction with the Adorn and thence northwards to the outer fences of Angrenost, and thence westwards and northwards along the eaves of Fangorn Forest to the river Limlight; and that river was its northern boundary, for the land beyond had never been claimed by Gondor.
    – Eric
    Aug 4, 2021 at 20:31

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Westwards and Northwards is indeed correct

Looking at the map of Middle-earth, Fangorn is East of Isengard and located Northwest of Rohan's boundaries:

enter image description here

As you can see from the passage westwards and northwards along the eaves of Fangorn Forest should be intrepreted as the boundaries of Rohan running along (but not including) Fangorn along its (Rohan's, not Fangorn's) westward and northward points.

Here's the closeup of the River Limlight which extends from the Anduin along the northern boundary of Rohan:

enter image description here

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    Ah I see, it means that the "westward boundary" is fangorn, not that you'd be going west if you walked along the border's path.
    – ibid
    Aug 4, 2021 at 22:56
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    @ibid Yep! Tolkien started off that passage with the rivers Angren and Adorn, followed by Fangorn and then Limlight. So if you look at it that way he's describing the boundaries from bottom left to top right (w.r.t. the first map).
    – Voronwé
    Aug 4, 2021 at 23:49
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    Thank you for your response, the Steadfast! So I guess that what Tolkien meant was this: go from Isengard and then along the westward and northward eaves of Fangorn?
    – Eric
    Aug 5, 2021 at 8:10
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    @Ben Westwards in the sense that, if you look at the map, the boundary of Rohan where it touches Fangorn forest is its westward and northern boundary. See ibid's comment above ^ take the passage as an overview of the map rather than looking at it as if you're walking from Isengard to Meduseld
    – Voronwé
    Aug 5, 2021 at 9:02
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    Glad I could help. If you'd like you can click the green arrow under the upvote system of my answer to mark it as the Accepted answer!
    – Voronwé
    Aug 5, 2021 at 10:43

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