Bexhill – Corndale – Eureka – Booyong

A long ramble with plenty of hills. Some rough sections, so it’s a good candidate for a gravel bike ride.

Total distance of 95km with 1300m of climbing. A good ride in both directions.

Head west out of Ballina and under the motorway onto the Bruxner Highway and then take the first right into Teven Rd. Follow Teven to the end then turn left and first right into Eltham Rd past the Teven Golf Course. Up over the first climb to about 130m then a fast descent to a pick-a-plank bridge, a couple more bumps and along the flat to Eltham village.

Continue through Eltham and you’ll come out on the Lismore-Bangalow Rd and turn left towards Lismore and up a little hill into Bexhill. There is a shop on the left – Bexhill General Store, open 7 days. Just past the Bexhill Store take a sharp right across the railway line onto Corndale Rd and down onto the flats again. Across the valley Corndale Rd does a sharp right run and becomes Rosebank Rd at the bottom of the next climb of about 6km.

At the top of the climb go right into Eureka Rd and follow that through a lovely little valley past a great swimming hole and up to Eureka. Just before Eureka there is a three-way intersection and you need to veer right or you’ll end up at Federal. 

After Eureka keep an eye out for a big old wooden church on the left hand side and turn left there into Springvale Rd. The surface is a little rough, but follow this through to the end at the Lismore-Bangalow Rd, turn left and get ready for a flying descent down Booyong Hill. Just after the bottom when you need to start pedalling again, take a right turn into Booyong Rd and follow this into Tooheys Mill Rd and then Nashua Rd. Follow Nashua Rd to the end and then turn right in Fernleigh Rd.

PLEASE NOTE: The Booyong Rd end of Tooheys Mill Rd is in quite poor condition (mammoth understatement). While I have ridden it on a road bike with 25mm tyres, it is probably better suited to a gravel bike. You can avoid a fairly nasty descent on the worst section of Toohey’s Mill Rd by riding the route counter-clockwise.

Follow Fernleigh Rd all the way to the bottom, turn left, cross the creek and back up the hill past the Tintenbar shop to the old highway, then left and up a little bit more and you’ll come out above the M1 motorway (Pacific Highway). Go over the motorway and take the second exit off the roundabout into Ross Lane for another sweet descent down to the Coast Rd.

Turn right at the Coast Rd roundabout towards Lennox Head. Here you can either turn left at Byron St to go into Lennox Head for coffee or lunch or keep on towards Ballina along the Coast Rd. Go through two roundabouts and turn left at the 3rd roundabout at Angels Beach and follow that all the way back into Ballina. 

You can download a GPX file direct from Map My Ride®, just follow the link below.

Map My Ride Link