Camping with Katie's Friends

Tell us about yourself

These days I make short films, write, and build a little wine-tasting app called Sipstars, where you guess the aromas and slowly train your nose. It started on this trip, the same one these Silk Laundry photos are from, somewhere between all the wineries. But it goes back further. I'm from Moldova, where every autumn the whole family picked grapes, stomped them, and came home in clothes stained red and blue. I grew up wanting to be near the sea and the vineyards, and after years of moving around I finally landed in Spain, by the coast, where I went to film school. And lately I've fallen deep into smell. How is it that we remember the way our grandmother's house smelled twenty years ago, yet forget a face we met just last year? Maybe that's where it all comes from.

Best camping tips

If you're in a tent, bring comfortable bed linen, a blanket, and pillows. Yes, they take up a fair bit of room, and it might feel a little unnecessary, but it's exactly what makes everything feel cozy. Better to pack more blanket and less clothing. I like keeping very few clothes with me anyway, only the pieces I truly love. Set up camp before the light goes, because everything is harder in the dark. A head torch is a really good idea too, you end up reaching for it constantly. Bring a quick-dry towel and a bit of rope to string up, between sea swims there's always something damp, and it's nicer to hang it out than to live in a wet tent. A little pot for your morning tea, it gives you the nicest feeling for the day. And real glasses for the wine, not plastic. We took the thick, sturdy kind that won't break and kept them cool in the cooler the whole trip. Drinking from real glass, the wine even tastes better. Also don't forget a string of lights or a single candle for the evenings.

What did you pack?

I never travel with much. I'm that backpacker who keeps only the most important, most loved things in one bag. So Ezra and I each took a few pairs of shorts and t-shirts, a cosy hoodie and soft warm trousers for the cold evenings, my Silk Laundry dresses, his Silk Laundry shirts, one pair of Havaianas, one pair of sneakers, and a pair of ballet flats. Something like that. Then we packed the car with the rest: the tent, a blow up mattress, a little table and two chairs, a cooler, and a simple kitchen kit. And of course games for the slow evenings, Yahtzee and Monopoly Deal. (And just for a laugh, guys, Ezra insists I mention this, a trusty little piss pot that saved him more than one cold midnight trip out of the tent, haha).

How did you do laundry?

One of the lovely things about campsites is that they usually have a washing machine, so that's where we did everything. A couple of times we washed a thing or two by hand in a basin, but only when it was urgent and just one or two pieces.

Any recommendations?

In Rioja, buy as much wine as you can carry, it's hard to find wine this good at these prices anywhere else. And take the drive slowly, three or four days in each place. Watch the sun go down at Finisterre at least once. There's something moving about standing where people once believed the world simply ended. In the north, it's all in the small things: the seafood in Galicia, the cider in Asturias, a market morning, a swim.