During the mid summer season I somehow ended up in Skegness, north Lincolnshire and somehow a quick overnight stop over turned into 4 night stay. So can you stealth camp in Skegness? Read on.
To set the scene I’d been on a bit of a life treck, after being called insipid by a company called Synergy technologies I decided on a road trip. From Pembrokeshire to Aberwystwth to SouthPort to Blackpool to Hull and then finally Skegness where I stopped off after passing through Ingoldmells. In hindsight I wish I’d given consideration to a stop over there given the week in Skegness.
So stealth camping in Skegness is it possible?
Absolutely! You can park on the promenade for free from 6pm to 8am with no return between 2 and 4 hours. Technically this means if you arrive late and if the wardens are patrolling you can be in a spot overnight till 12pm the next day. This is exactly what I did on my first stealth camp. The 2nd time it wasn’t hard to find parking with no restrictions. If you have to move or want to stay and parking places are full there is an all day car park for £5 for the entire day.
If you park along the promenade on the more west side of Skegness it’s quiet enough and the only real noise will be the occasional noise from a boy racer with a howling exhaust. From my week there there was no noise from late night revellers as the night life was non existent, partly due to the the immigrants.
Hold up before you start flaming me. Most of the hotels along the sea front were taken up by a predominately immigration population which in turns means less tourists and less noise at night. Sadly this does mean if you are looking to go out at night and get some old fashioned summer season atmosphere you are going to be out of luck. This means food offerings are slim pickings that I’ll come to later.
Stealth Camping Facilities
When out on the road, water is bloody precious. Honestly you have no idea how much you use when you don’t have access to a tap. A common myth about van life is that water is always accessible and easy to get to. Not in Skeggy, I found one place where you can wash your feet, toilets are 40p to spend a penny but if you wanted to rinse of at an outside shower your going to be out of luck.
Bins are plenty and thankfully lacking a whole plethora of what you can put into a bin signage. For the posh ones who have a toilet in their van there are no elsan points anywhere so those toilets will need to be emptied if you planning to be there for a few days
Food Offerings.
During the day and so long as you like the burgers and all day breakfast offerings you’d be sorted. Monday to friday one cafe offers 20% off all food buttttt the prices are put up so it becomes the same as other places.
Fish and chips is obviously a given but If you are looking for another other than that and burgers pickings are slim. Well thats unless you want KFC or McDonalds. Side note avoid the Maccys between 7 and 9pm otherwise you’ll be waiting around 30 minutes for food, providing they let you in as more than once people were refused entry due to safety concerns.
Things to do in Skegness.
this all depends on who you are and who you are with. Single stealth camper, probably a couple of days will be enough to experience the Skeggy. A walk along the prom on a decent sunny day is ok but the town centre doesn’t offer much up seeing as the shops close at 4.30. That took me back to see the centre of Skegness close early.
The fun fair kind of set the scene for Skegnes in general. Most evenings I was waiting to capture a photo of the big wheel lit up at night for that iconic picture, most night the promenade was closed by 7 and the wheel off by 8pm.
The pier itself also disappointed, I get the lack of arcade machines now in place of slots or push penny machines (yes I’m that old) but when walking out on the back 3/4 of the lights were faulty. This was in peak season when it couldn’t have been any busier.
For those with kids or couples it’ll be an expensive long weekend if you hit the promenade and such costing a small fortune for the rides.
As a general observation the demographics seemed to be either young couples from 18 – 25 or the grandparents taking the kids out. The 25 – 45 generation didn’t exist during the time I was there.
Nightlife.
Again it was a touch bizarre to see a seaside town so dead so early during the peak of the summer season. Pubs you would think could be rammed with revellers enjoying the summer season were vacant, a busy night would consist of maybe a dozen people whilst a football game is on. The barometer of any town, the Wetherspoons, was also deader than my love life. When a spoons cant pull in a crowd you know something is up.
Speaking to a few people it was the most bizarre season ever. gone are the days of the arcades being open past midnight, the crowds walking the seafront and meandering into places. A whole overriding feeling of “when will the season kick in” was present everywhere. The cost of living is one aspect but the immigrant issue did crop up. How is that relevant to van living.
The locals I’m told are too wary to go out late at night with the street lights being turned off, one guy mentioned about a group of guys chasing another group with machetes believing it to be drug related. Then it was reported about a body being found behind a Tesco. A sense of a town repressed was present But how does that relate to Vanlife.
Parking up where on the seafront or on an offshoot road I never felt uncomfortable and perhaps in part due to seeing other camper vans on the same street. If you don’t mind a 10 minute walk there is a pub that welcomes camper vans if you at least pop in to get some food from them.
Is Skegness Worth a Van Life Visit
it all depends on where you are from. If you are a few hours away from the Skeggy then sure, pop in and have a long weekend but from my perspective thats about it. A couple of days you’ve already hit the pinnacle of what’s on offer. If you’re within a three hour radius then sure but that means you live in Lincolnshire and options are limited to say the least.
As part of a road trip, a good place to pop in and see yes, hit up Skegness but as a destination in unto itself there really isn’t much on offer sadly. Shops closing at 4.30pm, the pinnacle landmark off a ferries wheel not being illuminated is one thing but that lack of seaside excitement, that energy you would anticipate of hitting up a seaside in the peak of summer just sadly wasnt there.
For those in a van tho, do hit it up. It’s an easy stay over for a few nights with no hassle. The only real issue is where’s the next destination.