Point Judith is where Rhode Island sticks its chin into the Atlantic, and the sea knows it. The point marks the western entrance to Narragansett Bay, and a stretch of coast where the swell comes in unbroken from the open ocean and the fog banks arrive without warning. A lighthouse, a stout octagonal tower of brownstone built in the 1850s, stands on the headland, and the ships heading in and out of the bay have steered by it for generations. In the hurricane of 1938, the sea came over the point and destroyed a good deal of the nearby shore.
Just beside it is Galilee, a working fishing village, one of the busiest commercial ports on the East Coast, where trawlers unload squid, scup and flounder, and the ferry to Block Island leaves several times a day. The harbour is a lively place, with fish shacks selling chowder, stuffies and clam cakes, and the smell of diesel and bait. It is not a polished place, and that is why it is good. Beyond the harbour are the beaches, a mix of sand and rock, and the long, slow stretch of the South County shore.
The road to the point from Narragansett and Wakefield runs through low scrub and salt marsh, with the sea on one side and tidal ponds on the other, and the wind blows steadily from the ocean, so a loaded bike may feel it. The surface is generally good, but sand drifts onto the corners, and fog can reduce visibility to a few car lengths in the morning, particularly in spring and early summer. In the high season, the roads to the beaches are crowded, with a lot of parked cars and people crossing the road, so patience is required.
Narragansett and Wakefield, eight to ten kilometres away, have fuel, supermarkets and plenty of places to eat, and Narragansett Pier has a stone arch, the Towers, left over from a grand casino that burned in the 1900s. A walk on the rocks at the point at dusk, with the lighthouse beam turning and the gulls settling on the water, is a fine end to a day. The best time is a weekday in May or September, when the beach is empty and the fog has not yet taken over.