Southeast CT local loop
Sat July 28, 2018
(~199 miles)

Ugh, it was hot. And humid. But we’d already set aside the day for a ride together, to celebrate a recent birthday and anniversary. So after a morning of chores and responsibilities tended to, Char and I headed down to the Connecticut shore to see a few lighthouses and hopefully grab a decent seafood meal along the way. Because of the chance of afternoon thunderstorms, we elected to wear full Gore-tex jackets rather than mesh – probably biggest mistake of the day before we even left the house.

We zipped down I-95 to cross Rhode Island uneventfully, having missed most of the morning beach traffic heading down SR-4. We noted backed-up traffic on the northbound side after route 4, but we had clear sailing south. We took the last RI exit, to Westerly, making our way down to the tiny seaside village of Watch Hill. Once off the highway, it became clear how uncomfortable the day actually was (low 80s but very high humidity). I was used to similar conditions after my recent trip south, but Char hadn’t been out in her new(ish) jacket in these temps yet, and we were both wishing for mesh at this point, rain be damned.

Watch Hill was just as well-manicured and the properties as opulent as I remembered, with lots of hedge type vegetation affording residents what privacy they could get in the popular tourist stop. We approach the turn to the lighthouse, where a bearded security guard was standing next to a Private Way sign. I greeted him and asked if there was any vantage point from where we could get a photo of the lighthouse. He told us we had to park somewhere else, but could walk down the road to it.

View back to Watch Hill from the lighthouse lot.

“How far a walk is it?” I asked.

“About 10 minutes”, he said. Looking at our mode of dress, he added, “You guys must be hot in all that gear!”

I was about to brush it off, but Char piped up, “Yes, REALLY hot!”

The gatekeeper took pity on us and told us he’d allow us to ride down as long as we were quick and just needed to get a photo. Score! We thanked him profusely and proceeded down the narrow lane with thick hedgerows crowding in from both sides, belonging to the well-kept and expensive looking homes in this neighborhood. It reminded me of descriptions I’ve read of the English countryside, and we proceeded carefully down the mile or so road, avoiding several pedestrians making the trek in more appropriate clothing for that activity. We got through the residential area and entered the large empty lot for Watch Hill Lighthouse.

We thanked the guard again on our way out, and made our way through downtown Westerly to make our crossing of the Pawcatuck River. We stopped to fuel up and tried not to melt in the sun on this breezeless day. Much as you might like to believe that being out on the bike on a beautiful sunny day always lifts the mood, the discomfort level was high as we sweated things out, and there wasn’t much conversation at this point. Being hungry didn’t help, and I was looking forward to trying out one of the NER-recommended restaurants down in this area. Before we left the gas station, I noticed the GPS wasn’t powering back up. It seems the cradle wasn’t working – probably due to some recent wiring work I’d been doing. Luckily, I have a long USB cable ready and waiting in the glove compartment for such occasions, and was able to power the unit that way for the rest of the day.

In the interest of exploration, I had routed us to stay on local roads close to the shoreline, so we crossed the river and immediately turned south alongside it, trying to forget the discomfort and enjoying views of the boats and seaside life for a couple miles until turning west to cut over to US-1. We next rode down into Stonington, a charming little town, with a historic looking narrow main drag with many one-way lanes and lots of shops. It was my first time through here and reminded me of Newport RI or Rockport MA, but without the throngs of people.

Stonington Harbor Lighthouse is on the southernmost neck of land in town, just before the skinny road empties into a gravel parking lot for beachgoers and picnickers. There was no place to park along the street, so we continued down to the lot and enjoyed the scene of the many boaters out enjoying the day on the water. I walked a hundred yards or so back up the road to get the photo of the lighthouse, which is now a museum.

Our plan was to scope out S&P Oyster Company in Mystic for a late lunch, so we rejoined US-1 over to Mystic and navigated a couple one-way streets to get us to the restaurant. Unfortunately, the drawbridge that crosses the river had just apparently gone up, causing us much consternation and discomfort over the next 10-15 minutes, as traffic was jammed up on US-1 and throughout the adjoining local streets. We managed to get into the small parking lot, but there were no spots available and a couple other cars were already there waiting. We should have just found our own parking spot at this point, but the heat, discomfort, and hunger were probably affecting judgement and we decided to pass and try out the next restaurant I’d plotted, in New London.

The bridge was still up and we got back into traffic, but there were no easy workarounds apparent,  so we waited things out for the next 10 minutes or so, since the next photo opp was right on the other side of the river. Finally, the bridge came down and car/foot traffic began flowing once again. We inched through the downtown shopping area, dodging tourists and finally made it to a side road that paralleled the river to a vantage point where I could photograph the Mystic Seaport Lighthouse. This is actually a replica lighthouse of one on Nantucket and was never in official operation.

We crossed back over US-1 and continued to follow the shoreline south to the isolated little village of Noank. Very low speed limits and steep narrow streets kept my attention as we navigated through the community to get to Morgan Point Lighthouse. This was yet again another privately-owned lighthouse on a private road, but rounding the first bend we were able to get a decent look at the place and quick picture from the end of the driveway.

We continued into Groton and skirted the coast down to UConn at Avery Point, a small but well-kept campus at the mouth of the Thames River on the former site of a US Coast Guard training facility. We rode right in and went around a one-way loop right along the shore, where we pulled over for a photo of the most obvious lighthouse we could see, jutting prominently out of the water in the distance. Thinking it was the lighthouse we were targeting (Avery Point), I got the photo. This turned out to be the New London Ledge Lighthouse, which I had previously thought to be inaccessible based on the maps. While you certainly can’t make out the detail of its Victorian architecture, it is definitely recognizable by shape.

We packed up to go and as we continued around the small loop to the exit, I realized the GPS was still showing the waypoint for Avery Point Lighthouse nearby and on land. I realized my mistake, and spotted the diminutive lighthouse further back on the grounds of the school. A wedding was taking place nearby with the lighthouse for a backdrop, so we improvised a distance shot so as not to disturb the proceedings.

From Avery Point, we hugged the shore of the river up to I-95 and crossed over into New London. Food was calling us from Capt. Scott’s Lobster Dock. But when we pulled in, it was just past five o’clock now on a Saturday evening and the line was a good forty or so people long. We were both feeling grumpy now, and not in the mood to wait around outside sweating in our gear. I had no Plan C for food arrangements, so we simply continued south on the western shore of the Thames until we spied our next quarry along Pequot Road, the New London Harbor Lighthouse. Although right next to the road, it is on private property and a lot of trees block the view unless you are down the street a ways.

I had planned to bag a couple more lighthouses in Old Saybrook before turning for the barn, but that was another 20 miles west. We pulled over to assess our mood and decided to head home at this point. Thoughts of chilled margaritas and mexican food for dinner that night improved our spirits considerably as we slabbed it home back across the Ocean State, detouring off the interstate briefly near East Greenwich, per suggestion from Waze, to avoid the construction delays we’d noticed on our way down.