Bells Line of Road

Bells Line of Road is the northern way over the Blue Mountains. This drive starts at North Richmond on Kurrajong Road and runs 71 km (44 mi) west to Lithgow, climbing out of the Hawkesbury Valley by Bellbird Hill, the steepest part of the road. The hill rises about 450 m to the top of the range on tight bends, and the climb carries on through Kurrajong Heights, where Bellbird Hill Lookout looks back toward the coast.

On the range the road settles into fruit country. Bilpin and Berambing are orchard districts, with apples the local crop, and Mount Tomah follows with the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden set high on the mountain. West of there the road runs through Blue Mountains National Park, with Mount Bell and Mount Charles beside it, before reaching Bell and turning onto Chifley Road for the descent to Lithgow.

The road was surveyed in 1823 and was little used until the 1939 to 1943 upgrade, made as a wartime alternative to the Great Western Highway. Today it is a quieter alternative to the highway, though trucks and weekend traffic still share it.