Merrily pedaling along Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay on the East Bay Bike Path the other day, friends and I enjoyed ever-changing surroundings as the miles clicked by – marshes teeming with herons, egrets and osprey gave way to manicured parks, tree-lined corridors, working-class neighborhoods and historic seafaring villages.

The highlight of our 31-plus-mile excursion came when Maggie Jones, Andy Lynn, Phil Plouffe and I detoured off the pancake-flat bike trail in Bristol and entered Colt State Park, a 464-acre expanse of lawns and stone walls that offers exquisite views of the bay and Prudence Island. You won’t find a better shoreline vista while riding a bicycle anywhere in the Ocean State.

The park had been the sprawling estate of Samuel P. Colt, a former Rhode Island attorney general and financial/industrial tycoon who founded the Industrial Trust Company, which evolved into the Bank of America, and whose U.S. Rubber Company became Uniroyal, the world’s largest producer of rubber goods. Colt died in 1921, and it took the state decades to resolve family disputes regarding his will before purchasing the property in 1965.

Dedicated in 1968, Colt Park, which contains six picnic groves, an observation tower, seaside chapel, 10 playing fields, boat ramp and four miles of trails, is one of eight public parks the bike path crosses.

We began what turned out to be a 31-plus mile excursion at Indian Point Park in Providence, the bike path’s northern terminus, and followed a route past Bold Point and Squantum Woods in East Providence, Haines and Veteran’s Memorial Park in Barrington and Burr’s Hill Park in Warren, before cutting through Colt State Park.

Upon exiting the park, we rolled past Coggeshall Farm Museum, a living history museum representing agricultural life in the 1790s, and rejoined the bike path. In less than a mile, we looped around flag-bedecked Independence Park in Bristol, the trail’s southern end. Host of the nation’s oldest Fourth of July parade, Bristol calls itself “the most patriotic town in America.”

The route passes several other sites of historic interest. From the mid-1780s through the 1840s, Indian Point had been a shipyard for boats destined for India and China. Beginning in 1831, it also served as a terminal for the Boston and Providence Railroad.

At Fort Hill in East Providence, soldiers were stationed during the American Revolution and War of 1812; at Burr’s Hill Park in Warren, hundreds of artifacts were unearthed from a Native American burial ground in the early 19th century. They eventually were returned to the Wampanoag Tribe and reinterred at a vault in the park.

Built in four phases by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation between 1987 and 1992, the 10-foot-wide path is the first of several bike trails crisscrossing the state. Although called bikeways, these car-free corridors are popular among runners and walkers.

The path crosses a dozen or so busy streets, where every motorist we encountered politely stopped to let us, other cyclists and pedestrians pass.

We made two worthy stops on our ride back to India Point: The Audubon Nature Center and Aquarium in Bristol, which offers interactive exhibits and a 33-foot, life-size model of a North Atlantic right whale; and a food truck in Warren, where we feasted on fire-roasted corn tacos.

No need to pack a lunch – the bike trail passes a smorgasbord of dining opportunities, from ice cream shops and lemonade stands to seaside restaurants.

Formerly a rail bed of the Providence and Bristol Railroad, the East Bay Bike Path will soon be linked to the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, creating a 30-mile bike route to Woonsocket at the Massachusetts border.

Riders who may not want to cover the entire length can pick it up at several locations; public parking is available at nine lots spread out over the length of the path.

There are hundreds of miles of excellent bike trails closer to home in Connecticut, but every so often, friends, family and I are drawn back to the East Bay path. Information: https://www.dot.ri.gov/travel/bikeri/eastbay.php.

More information about Connecticut’s bike paths is available at https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/State-Parks/Explore/Biking