There are many places to start this ride from town however, we have selected the historic Blast Furnace as your departure point. A great central location with good parking, lots of history of Lithgow’s past plus clean bathrooms.

First go under the train line and then up and over the train lines and turn right on Main Street.

Ride past Renshaw‘s Bikes, which will be on your left and then turn left at the lights on to Lithgow Street.

Continue to follow the course and at ~2.6km you will be on Hassans Walls Road.

Then begin the ~3km climb, avg 5%. At ~3.3km into the ride, the road turns to gravel.

At ~5.8km follow the signs and veer right to go to Hassans Walls Lookout. Before you reach the raised walkway turn right and go towards the large telephone antenna to see the endless view to the West. Then head to the impressive Sir Joseph Cook Boardwalk. At this point you are at 1,116m above sea level and you will have magnificent views over Hartley Valley back towards Mount Victoria.

Jump back on your bike and when you get to the first intersection, turn right. You are now going the opposite direction from Lithgow and heading towards Bracey Lookout.

Enjoy riding on this Champagne gravel road which is just over one car width wide as you pedal through the beautiful Australian bush.

At ~8.5km turn left and pedal down to Bracey Lookout. This out and back section is ~2.1km each way.

There is a short and sharp descent down to the lookout, partly on tarmac, where you will have nice views over Lithgow and the Blast Furnace.

Please note: the best view is from the viewing platform, next to the car park area and just past the large sandstone rock. We suggest you do not go further down to the water tank, it is not worth the ride down and back up the very steep tarmac-ed road.

The first part of the climb out from the Bracey Lookout is a steep section of ~700m at ~9% with sections of +12%, so do not let the average fool you.

At ~12.8km turn left, the opposite direction to Hassans Walls. Just after that turn, at ~13.1km stop and pause for another spectacular view over Hartley Vale. To locate this lookout look for the large road blocks on your right hand side.

Then continue to head down on gravel, use caution on the descent as it is quite steep and has several sweeping corners.

At ~14.2km you are back on tarmac on Hartley Valley Road. Follow this road all the way down to Lithgow and turn left on Mort Street. This takes you all the way back into town where you will turn right at ~17.9km on Bridge Street to complete the loop back to the Blast Furnace.