This corner of Fairfield County is horse fences, old stone walls, apple orchards and white clapboard houses set back among maples, the gentle face of Connecticut between the crowded shoreline and the hills to the north. Easton, with fewer than eight thousand people, has no real town centre at all, just farms, woods and winding roads, and much of its land is held as watershed for the reservoirs that supply Bridgeport and the coast.
It has had some remarkable residents. Helen Keller spent the last decades of her life at her home, Arcan Ridge, in Easton, and died there in 1968. Next door in Redding, Mark Twain built his last house, Stormfield, in 1908, and lived there until his death two years later. The countryside has not changed as much as you might expect since then: you can still ride past old farmhouses, red barns and fields where cows graze, and in autumn the farm stands sell apples, cider and pumpkins.
Swimming is a challenge here, because the reservoirs that dominate the landscape are strictly protected. The nearest good options are a short ride either way: south to the beaches on Long Island Sound, such as Sherwood Island State Park in Westport, or north to Kettletown State Park on Lake Zoar, near Southbury, which has a swimming area in summer. The Sound is calm and fairly warm by late July; the lake is fresher and quieter.
The roads are a pleasure. Narrow, winding lanes run through the woods and around the reservoirs, with plenty of curves, short climbs and dips, and stone walls close to the road. Traffic is light outside rush hours, but watch for deer, cyclists and horse riders, and for police, who enforce the speed limits strictly. Coming back from the Delaware Water Gap, you will have spent most of the day on the busy Interstate 84; these back roads are a good way to finish more gently.
Trumbull, about twelve kilometres away, has fuel, shopping and services, and Newtown and the main roads have stations and diners too. Easton itself has a couple of general stores and farm stands. Stop for a cider donut, lean against a stone wall and take in the quiet before you head back to the city.