Proof! There's more to Essex than TOWIE

Burnham-on-Crouch isn’t the kind of place you ride through or past, it’s the kind of place you ride to. Situated along the southern end of the Dengie peninsula in Essex, on the north bank of the River Crouch, it’s been a popular destination for decades.

It’s the ride there that initially draws people to this picturesque riverside town and in particular the infamous Burnham Bends – a series of ten 90-degree turns that present themselves in rapid succession along the A1010 just before the local limits kick in. There’s not much beyond Burnham, in fact as far as roads are concerned it is pretty much the end of the line, so you get to ride them on the way back too.

It’s a genuinely bike friendly town; not only is parking free, but on Sundays and Bank Holidays mo- torcycles are exempt from double yellows in the more popular areas – how welcoming is that?

There are several places to eat, but the best for groups, meets and gatherings is either Sherlock’s on the run in or the Cabin Dairy by the war memorial. Both do a fantastic fry-up, although the Cabin Dairy has the edge on location – the views across the river to the bird sanctuary of Wallasea Island are stunning and it’s not hard to find some credence in the legend that it was the teeming wildlife that gave Alfred Hitchcock the idea for one of his more famous movies…