Dave Cornthwaite | From record breaking adventures to raising a family of alpacas

Dave Cornthwaite is a record-breaking adventurer, bestselling author and award-winning community leader with a habit of doing things differently. Dave is on an ongoing mission caled Expedition1000 - taking on 25 different no motorised journeys, each over 1000 miles in distance. He has completed 15 journeys so far including skateboarding 3618 miles across Austrailia, Paddleboarding 2404 miles of the Missisippi, USA and Tandem cycling 1396 miles between Vancouver and Las Vegas. He is the founder of SayYesMore, and with his wife Em runs the Big Sky Hideaway in Lincolnshire, where you can camp a frisbee-throw from smiling alpacas and enjoy nights in converted buses, or a hammock village. Dave says ‘If you’re ever caught between two decisions, always go for the one which makes the best story’

Find Dave on Instagram - @davecorn

Dave's website - https://www.davecornthwaite.com

This series is sponsored by Island Feather, an amazing brand that creates high quality, multi-purpose, stylish sports and fitness wear and accessible events -  Island Feather's mission is to support you to live a healthy life, discover what makes you happy and create a community of support and care for one another . For me, having just become a mother their motto 'Find your freedom’ resonates  more than ever and I am stoked to have them as a sponsor!

You can find this episode on iTunes, Spotify and many other podcast platform 💙

If you have any questions or would like to suggest a guest please get in touch! You can email India via indiapearsonclarke@gmail.com or send a message via Instagram  @india_outdoors / @finandflow / www.indiapearson.co.uk

~Music - Caleb Howard Almond / @oakandalmondcarpentry ~

You can find this episode on iTunes, Spotify and many other podcast platform

If you have any questions or would like to suggest a guest please get in touch! You can email India via indiapearsonclarke@gmail.com or send a message via Instagram @india_outdoors / @finandflow / www.indiapearson.co.uk

~Music - Caleb Howard Almond / @oakandalmondcarpentry

Transcript

India Pearson  0:01  
Hello, I'm India and welcome to the third series of star triple the podcast that celebrates moving in nature. This series is sponsored by Island feather, an amazing brand that creates high quality multipurpose fitness where and events. Island feathers mission is to support you to live a healthy life. Discover what makes you happy and create a community of support and care for one another. For me, having just become a mum their motto find your freedom resonates more than ever, and I'm stoked to have them as a sponsor. Okay, it's time to introduce my guest. Dave Cornthwaite is a record breaking adventurer, Best Selling Author and award winning community leader with a habit of doing things differently. Dave is on an ongoing mission called expedition 1000. Taking on 25 Different non motorised journeys each over 1000 miles in distance. Here's completed 15 journey so far, including skateboarding 3618 miles across Australia, paddleboarding, 2404 miles at the Mississippi, and tandem cycling 1396 miles between Vancouver and Las Vegas. He's the founder of say a small and with his wife M runs the Big Sky hideaway in Lincolnshire where you can camp a Frisbee throw away from smiling alpacas. Dave says, if you're ever caught between two decisions, always go for the one that makes the best story. I could Okay, right. So let's not Hi, Dave, and welcome to The Star Report podcast. Hey, India. Thanks

Dave Cornthwaite  1:44  
for having me.

India Pearson  1:45  
It's great. It's great to have you. So lots of questions for you. The Yes, man, I'm sure you get you get told. So can you start by giving me a little brief about your background?

Dave Cornthwaite  2:00  
While I was there? Yeah. So I guess in a nutshell, an interesting version of me maybe started in 2005 When I quit my last job. And then I decided on that day, to say yes, more. I just I was a really miserable, depressed young adult and didn't really know what I was up to. So one of the things I said yes to after adopting that motto was a long skateboard. And I decided that I'd I'd take that skateboard a long, long way across Australia. And then I got a book deal after that, because obviously, no one crosses Australia on a skateboard. And it started this new kind of pattern of life, which has taken me on all kinds of adventures, different corners of the globe, different social projects. I'm just really interested in experimenting, and I don't really care too much about being a master or even very good at things. But I do like trying new stuff. And I don't think that's gonna end for quite a while.

India Pearson  3:03  
Yeah. And I mean, the places it's taking the people that you've met from simply saying, yes. Was it was it when you, you were you sat behind your desk? And you just thought, I can't do this anymore? And did you have sort of an epiphany about this whole idea of saying yes, then or when was it when you suddenly had this idea?

Dave Cornthwaite  3:24  
It definitely wasn't an epiphany. I think like most people who find themselves pretty dissatisfied with the day to day humdrum of work that they don't enjoy it stews for a long time. And hopefully, at some point, you kind of build up the courage bravery, or maybe even luck to to take a leap. And for me, yeah, it was definitely on my mind for for a good good while. I was kind of like a PlayStation addict, and, and all of that stuff. I just hid away. I said, No, a lot. And on my 25th birthday, I woke up and just thought, Well, I've been alive for quarter century. And what have I done? What a waste, you know, and I just had a good thing and thought, Okay, I think it's because I'm saying no, a lot, and just doing the same things every single day. So at least I'm gonna give it a go and try doing new stuff and see where it takes me. And luckily, it's, it's been quite the journey.

India Pearson  4:20  
Yeah. Do you ever get people because there's it there's a film, isn't it with them? Oh,

Dave Cornthwaite  4:28  
can you say yes, man? Yeah, yes. Jim Carrey? Jim

India Pearson  4:31  
Carrey? Yeah. Did you ever get people sort of relating you to that film?

Dave Cornthwaite  4:37  
Yeah, all the time. Although, for me, saying yes, more is is a really wise thing and saying yes to everything like Jim does in the film, or like Danny Wallace, who wrote the book that the film was made about, they said yes to everything. And that's that's just exhausting. You know that. Yeah, that's so that's going to run out of steam pretty fast. So, for me, you know, the yes thing is just all about taking and making the most of opportunities, even even when they're not evident. And the more you do that, the more you learn about yourself, the more you learn about what you don't want to do just as much as what you do. And yeah, and all the while. It's amazing how doors just start to open as soon as you start kind of identifying almost everything is an opportunity. Yeah,

India Pearson  5:27  
I guess it's about Yeah, like you say, say your, you know, the founder of Say Yes, more or not say yes, every time. That is exciting. We still need boundaries in this world. So you've actually created a community from from this idea, and say, Yes, more community and you got to say, Yes, boss as well. How did this all come into fruition? Like, it's it's happened and you created this tribe of people. I I know that I first found out by you through Haley who runs a paddle cabin because she was one of the say, Yes, leaders, I think. And she was just like, it's amazing. It's so positive. I love I love doing stuff with Dave and it's great. And yeah, how how did the community build and how did you create that? Yeah, well,

Dave Cornthwaite  6:21  
I don't know. I've I've got an answer for some of it. And the rest is just, I guess, sitting back and letting a good idea take hold. I travelled for good 10 years often by myself and met so many people. And this kindness of strangers is never more evident. Even in places you've never been to before. When you're in the middle of an adventure when you've got an icebreaker, a story or paddleboard into Memphis or ride a recumbent bike into Fallon, Nevada, or, I don't know all manner of things. And I just found that making friends when you walked into a room or pedalled into a town with a big smile, you know, sweaty and vulnerable, I guess, because you don't have a place to stay and all of that stuff living on the road. I love I love that lifestyle. And I lived it for a good decade. And then every time I came back to England, especially into cities, I, that kindness of strangers wasn't evident. And you know, it's pretty natural in an urban area. Everyone's got their own home and they bounce from home, or most people have their own home, they bounce from home to work to train station and back again, life is fast and busy and heads down. And it's yeah, it's harder to get people's attention, I suppose. And back in 2015, I came back from from a project and thought, You know what, I know that these people are good and kind, they just don't seem to have time for any of that. So I decided to try and turn my Facebook audience who are following my adventures into real humans just to see, well, they weren't robots. And I did it by inviting people camping on a school night and 19 Strangers turned up underneath the train station clock in Liverpool Street. And we took a train out of half an hour got to know each other around a campfire. And that was the beginning of the Yes, but did it again, again, maybe maybe 20 Different campouts in the summer of 2015. And by the end of the summer, we had over 1000 people in a Facebook group I'd set up and the idea was, well, there wasn't really an idea other than I think it'd be quite funny just to see who turns up on this first one. And then the second camp out 25 rocked up and then 35 and was mad. But people started doing things that they just been talking about beforehand, because they were then surrounded by the type of people who go camping with strangers near London. And that's the crowd that I want to hang out with. When I'm when I'm in the UK. And, and I there was just a huge amount of energy through the building of this thing I never really kind of set out with with the grand plan. And even now, I know what it stands for. And I know what people get out of it. But it's so varied as a community. And obviously every individual comes with their own personalities and dreams and it's just it's just a good support network to go out there and make the most of our precious time.

India Pearson  9:17  
Just I guess it's about bringing like minded souls together, isn't it? And by doing that, you know people feel at home they feel present they feel accepted. And in because I've lived in London for a few years and I felt really lonely. That's probably one of my loneliest time was living in London, had the dead end job had did all of that. And it wasn't until I moved out to a smaller community by the sea that I've suddenly felt me but there's no reason why I couldn't have found that in London. It was just accessing it wasn't there and so I can totally see why doing something like this in a big Cities are so important. And it shows that it is possible to live that city life but still live the outdoors live to you know, you're only a train journey away from the countryside when you took when you did these camping trips where they word camping, or were they in an actual campsite? Because I know that while camping is a and I've done my research on you, it's one of your favourite things.

Dave Cornthwaite  10:21  
Yeah, no, it was all wild camping. A little more campsite. Now, because

India Pearson  10:27  
yeah. Oh, yeah. Could you come on to that later?

Dave Cornthwaite  10:31  
Well, yeah, I mean, the Heil, just love wild camping. And that love has come from my adventures. And I think often, you know, big question mark, even if someone wants to go on a big bike ride, or a long walk or something with a bag on their back, is where do I sleep at night, and it's expensive to get hotels and all of that. And for me, you know, wild camping all over the world is just one of my favourite things. One, it's free to, I really like when dusk start to arrive. And I still don't know where I'm going to sleep. But the fact that I don't know where I'm going to sleep means that nobody else does, for sure. And therefore, it's just beautifully safe as long as you just take yourself off the beaten track. And yeah, from riverbanks on the Mississippi to concrete roadside construction tubes in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Japanese playgrounds, the turrets right at the top of the of the thing kind of 30 metres up, I just I just really dig sleeping in weird places. And the thing is, when you come back to England, wild camping is kind of gently illegal. Yeah, so imagine trying to hide 50 people away in a in, in a kind of a green space within the M 25. I, I really relish that challenge. And it was it was magic, often, you know, now and then a dog walker would come around and be a bit surprised, but everyone was really nice and friendly. And just like hello. You know, good morning, rather than we've moved in with our tents and we're staying here forever. You know?

India Pearson  12:11  
It's one of the reasons I love them Scotland because you don't it's it's okay to welcome in Scotland. But my partner and I, we have a campervan. And we've done it a lot around Cornwall, but it's always like, oh, oh, you're always bit on edge, because you never know. But we did the NC 500 last year, and it was so nice to just think we are allowed to do this and no one's gonna be moving us on. And as long as it's done with respect, isn't it? I think that's the thing with wild camping. It's probably reasons that sort of illegal in the in England is because people have abused it maybe so.

Dave Cornthwaite  12:48  
Yeah, but and just just Everyone's just really, really careful on their own property. And it's, you know, there's a reason but you know, in Scandinavia, just like Scotland, they've got the almonds Ratan, you're allowed to camp anywhere, anywhere, as long as it's not in someone's front garden for two days and just leave no trace. It's really it's really sensible. It's all based on respect and care for the environment and our fellow humans. And you know, I think that's what a lovely simple way to live, you don't need no need laws and rules to govern that. So yeah, that's exactly the the ethos of the pace that we we we started the yes tribe with. And it's just continued. Now we've got over 105 volunteers in different regions in the UK, we've got over 20 different regional tribes in the UK, over 30 international ones, over 30,000 people is grown out of that original 19. And we don't kind of push it at all, it's just word of mouth. So it grows with a tickle, but no one gets paid. It's just worth doing.

India Pearson  13:53  
Because it's the most beautiful thing. I mean, just to have something that's grown so organically, and just from a little idea that you had in your head, and it just shows how important community is. Now we will get on to another side of the campaign a little bit a little bit later on but I do want to touch on chatting to you about your expedition 1000 Because this fascinates me so 25 different journeys over 1000 miles each using a different form of non motorised transport. Okay, so where did this start? Where are you along this challenge? And yeah, what Tell me some stories that have happened along the way.

Dave Cornthwaite  14:43  
Yeah, it came about because I, I skateboarding across Australia was my first big trip. And although it was it was amazing. And we mentioned that beauty of turning an idea into reality and that that's That makes my world turn. And I think you know, all of the all of the most successful the happiest people in the world. And I'm not putting success and happiness in exactly the same bracket. But they've all taken at least one idea and made it real. And it's, it's a really simple step that a lot of people don't necessarily make, even if they talk about those big things. And for me, skateboarding across Australia was wonderful. Yes, for the journey, and the ambition, especially because I decided to do it two weeks after stepping onto a skateboard for the first time. Yeah. I, you know, I'm not I'm still not very good skateboarder. I've never written a halfpipe or mini ramp or done Ollie, but I've, I've done something on a skateboard that no no one else ever had at the time still hasn't. And I just did it because I decided to and went for it, you know, and there's so much that can come out of that kind of attitude. So time went on, and after the skateboarding trip, I was, you know, I was feeling pretty good that it all come together. But I was also massively depressed. I've gone through kind of waves of depression, of various depths, all the way through my teenage world and in my adult life, less and less as time has gone on granted. But I didn't want to go on a huge adventure and feel it my most rich and then it to it to result in depression for a little while. And it's it's hormonal more than anything. You know, every single day on an adventure. You go through different experiences, go around bends for the first time, meet people overcome hurdles, you're outside all the time sun on your face, usually depending on where you travel and getting fit and healthy. And you've also got a real purpose. And when that all finishes, life feels really grey. I waited a couple of years, I did a couple more kind of random social projects determined not to go back to being a really bad graphic designer in a cubicle, and then went on another adventure in a kayak for two and a half months, two and a half 1000 kilometres down river in Australia again called the Murray and I was just epically depressed after that again, and I just thought this is ridiculous. The one thing I'm really missing, I think, is a focus a long term focus. I don't want to go on these adventures, but I don't just want to feel low afterwards, because I don't know what's next. So then I came up with expedition 1000. And the idea was that I give myself something monstrously ambitious, to keep working towards keep glancing at that list, keep thinking about even when a trip had finished. So it would, it would give me something to hold on to a lifeline or a safety net, or just excitement. And it's done exactly that. So I've completed 15 of these journeys so far. And this, there's so many ways to travel without a motor, some are totally viable. Some are just nonsense. You never do 1000 miles on stilts, or a pogo stick, you know?

But yeah, 15 journey so far, the amazing thing is I've travelled about 25,000 miles under my own steam all over the planet, and learn so many things and met so many people. And I've still got 10 of these journeys. So at least 10,000 miles to go. It's taken me from 26 to 42. And I'm in no hurry, I make the rules. You know, there's no aim. While I've broken a few world records along the way, just simply because I decided to do something that no one has done before. Through my madness, the aim isn't to break any records. I just want to start a journey with no training whatsoever. Try a form of non motorised transport on day one, take it easy for the first couple of weeks. There's no excuses then, because I really am no athlete at all. I just got a really good yes muscle if you like and I think you know, it's I'm doing it for me. But if other people are going to be intrigued or inspired or whatever, by my trips, then at least they can't say Yeah, but you you're a millionaire or you trained for six months and who's got the time for that? I'm just like, No, each trip comes in at less than 1000 pounds. I don't train at a smile midway through it. And that's it's that simple. Before you ask, I don't know what's next I've got 10 More but I'm I'm really happy at the moment setting up my little campsite and I don't feel like going away so at some point, the time will come and I know we're going to swim 1000 Miles underwater are some things

India Pearson  19:50  
do you think for you it's just knowing that you've got this, this crazy challenge over your head that you can always grab on to every anytime you need it, you know it's there rather than thinking, right, that challenge is ended and then you're back into that square one again. It's this, this continued adventure, this continued challenge that you that you are living with your whole life. And do you think that is what kind of keeps you on the straight and narrow? Knowing what the worst right now is probably the wrong word, but keeps you feeling happy and healthy. Knowing that you can tap into that any point, there's no boundaries there. It's there for you at any point in you know that that is going to like, feel yourself.

Dave Cornthwaite  20:39  
Yeah, I mean, for the first 10 years or so after coming up with it, until maybe 2015 2016 It was pretty much my life, you know, everything revolved around it before the yes tribe came along. And, and everything that's happened since then. And when my attention has been divided, and purely because I've probably got a bit more bandwidth for different things. So but I think having boundaries or limitations are so so healthy, like, it's, it's easy when you thinking I want to go on an adventure for the first time, you could do absolutely anything. And sometimes that that variety of choice, just just cripples or paralyses. Us. For me, I know that every time an adventure comes around, I want to add it to this to this to this list to this thing. And it means that I want to go to a place I haven't been to before, slowly that you know that that's starting to narrow down I want to travel in a way I haven't travelled before. Do I feel like travelling on land or on water, I need to go at least 1000 miles and it helps me really focus my attention. So I don't spend years just dithering and and wondering what's next I just, you know, it really focuses in on and I just trust how I feel. I'll I'll wake up one morning and think, yeah, I'm, I'm gonna be ready in three months. And I'll probably only plan it for six weeks absolute max. And by plan I'll, I'll just I'll pick a route on Google Maps. And I'll try and source whatever kit I need. And that's it. Like, I won't do too much at all, because that just kills the adventure. This thing gave me an identity. You know, it wasn't it's not every F. Some of the journeys are pretty spurious by themselves. They're cool adventures, nice to have gone and done, but they don't, you know, it's just like, why would you why would you do it really in the scheme of things, but because I've got expedition 1000 All of the journeys count towards something bigger. And I love that that iterative process, it's like mile after mile after mile on a skateboard eventually skated four and a half 1000. You know, and I and I really like that kind of that iterative building, that that process. It's it's super cool.

India Pearson  22:58  
Yeah, I there's a there's a quote that I picked out. When I was in a little bit of resection your, what you've done in it, she sort of said that my mission, I guess is to offer a reminder that wherever you're from whatever your background, if there's something you want to do, then there is a way and I love that because it's so I think this is exactly why you're such an amazing person to have on this podcast, because it's just prove that you know, you can do it if you want you. You don't need loads of planning, you don't need loads of money, you don't need those a training. You just need that little spark and the call, I get the confidence as well. Because I think that can often kind of knock people is that confidence to do it. But it's it's just, you know, proof. And I love that as well that you don't plan too much. Because I think often expectation can hinder happiness content, especially when you start looking on Instagram. Oh, I want to go to this place looks amazing. Look at all these amazing pictures. And then you get there and you're like, that's not so good. So the fact that you're just sort of seeing it through quite raw eyes, as well, as I'm sure has kind of helped. That. That excitement.

Dave Cornthwaite  24:07  
Yeah, I think so. I mean, I'm the first I'm the first to say, you know, I'm a white middle class guy. So building that confidence is, you know, confidence builds, the more you do, whether you succeed or not. You just realise that all those those excuses that you made before you doing the stuff so many of them were just nonsense and they were there a waste of energy and time and that I think that's the case for anyone there is a way to, to do the stuff that you want to do. And the more you think dwell on the excuses, the the slower you're going to get there. I think I think that's that's pretty straightforward. I think, you know, I also talking about the kind of fortune and privilege I never really realised for a long, long time that I didn't I didn't think twice about wild camping because I just I, I just knew I could I could talk my way out of it if I, you know, if someone came across me, but I completely understand that. It's not that it's not that simple for everybody. And it depends where you are exactly and how you react to different situations. And all I all I know is, we're all dealt a hand and we've got to make the most of it. I think if it was really all that simple, then every white middle class male would have gone off and done amazing adventures, but I'm pretty sure at 40 or 45 A lot of them are still PlayStation addicts rather than having made the most of their time so while I definitely take what I say with a pinch of salt is there's you know, there's there's a world out there to go and get and it might be at the end of your garden it might be across across the planet, but Yeah, forget the excuses. For sure.

India Pearson  25:57  
So let's talk about the Big Sky hideaway. So was this a was this one of those? Yes, say yes more ideas or just you know, that sort of came within six weeks you suddenly had this idea and you thought I'm gonna build a campsite and without packets and chickens and everything or it's just been something that's been kind of the back of your head for a while and it's just suddenly happened now?

Dave Cornthwaite  26:25  
Yeah, I mean, everything I've done is been on on a pretty slow burn and big sky where I'm speaking to you from now. Is a real surprise to me honestly. I met my now wife at the first yes try New Year's party in 2016. And ever since then AMS has helped me run say yes more manage the team set up our yes tools our annual storytelling festivals and also look after the SBS which is a community Basecamp project that we were just decided to convert bus and turn it into a solar powered Basecamp and found a really clever member of the tribe to to design it all. And then AMS and I ran it from a rented spot of land in in Sussex after a while the landlords became it was just so hard to deal with and we just thought how nice it would be to have our own place where we could put the bus but also get people camping, a little business just to tide everything over. And then and then April 1 2017 was one of my yes tribe April Fool's jokes. And I totally lied that morning saying we've been given 30 alpacas and everyone went mental for it, you know, it's still probably the most popular posts on the Yes tribe. And I felt so guilty because people are like, oh, I want to look after them that you should call them this. So ever since then, people have been like, if you've got the alpacas yet You idiot. I was really excited about that. So slowly all of these things are love of getting people outside say yes more the yes bus needing a new home. All of this stuff, just just conglomerated and then COVID came along and normal life and there was going to be no no more adventures for a good while speaking and running workshops, which is my kind of living off the side of the adventure stuff all stopped and me and I looked at each other and thought maybe this is the time we we try and make this work. We definitely didn't have enough money. But we started looking opened up hundreds of tabs of awesome properties around the UK and then in between lock downs in 2020. We started to look at a few physically and then randomly just just found this place here in Lincolnshire. I wasn't with her but she she dropped me a line sent me some photos and said I think you're going to love this place. And by the end of the day without I haven't even seen it. I looked at EMS videos and Google satellite view. And by the end of the day, we had a name and a logo we had I designed the whole website and the whole vision just kind of came came down from five years of dreaming about all stuff and bank there it was. And we use that plan to to get investment from friends who really believed in our yes tribe mission. And we've had a crowdfunding campaign and in 2020 December we moved into big sky. We've got our packers and two converted buses and a couple of pods and we've had alpaca babies the alpacas arrived on April 1 last year and nobody believed us. We had the last

India Pearson  29:45  
careful about what you what

Dave Cornthwaite  29:51  
what an expensive April Fool's joke that turned out to be. But it's incredible. I'm still we're still pinching ourselves over a year. You're on but we've we've learned so many skills and

India Pearson  30:03  
because I'm sure it's come with its challenges, you know, it sort of God. I've, I've watched watch one of your first videos where you just moved in you were kind of doing all your plans and soccer Facebook Live, I think and then it's followed your journey since and on paper. It's like you're living the dream, you know, you've got this beautiful house got this ground, you can do whatever you like. But there is there is, I'm sure. It's not all super easy, dreamy LIS skipping along with our packers every day. Sort of how how do you now deal with that? Difference, I guess of having quite a lot of responsibility within this campsite, and the yes tribe and everything that comes with it, compared to that freedom that you would have felt when you were skateboarding across Australia. How do you kind of weigh that up?

Dave Cornthwaite  30:58  
Yeah, no, it's a really, really good point. I think life is definitely dramatically changed. And for those for those first 10 years, when I was adventuring, I barely paid rent, I was just super free not spending anything. And and therefore being able to go and spend time doing the stuff I really wanted to. Because life was pretty low level. Now we, we owe a lot. We borrowed a lot of someone else's money to be here, we've got seven alpacas and eight chickens, we've got a dog and a cat. And yeah, and a huge amount to do like looking after guests when they come at the same time as still thinking about adventure still going off and doing talks and workshops and managing say yes, more to so yeah, I mean, in terms of responsibilities, I think I'd really encourage anyone who's listening who doesn't have a huge amount of responsibilities yet, just hold off as long as you possibly can. Because the more you do that, the more freedom you have the, the the better you start kind of scribing your life or you you know, as long as you're true to yourself, you'll work out when the right time to, to add a bit more responsibilities, you'll be stronger for it. And you won't have kind of kicked all that potential freedom and all the learning that comes with that and the teeth just because you decided to buy a house early, or whatever it might be. We all manage different responsibilities and different ways, of course, but I'm I'm pretty cool with it now. Yeah, loads of challenges here. And last year was fairly dark. Ironically, consider we found our what we hoped would be our forever home going through planning permission for what turned out to be almost eight months and all all the while there was a really good chance that we weren't going to get it and would therefore have to sell this place and find somewhere else. And another kind of two year process that was really hard to stomach. But luckily we kind of got through that. And yeah, it feels like we're we're emerging from that tunnel. Now there's we're surrounded by light. And we're getting to the point where we've kind of worked out how to piece together all the infrastructure. And we're getting creative now. Which is beautiful. It's a really nice place to be and, and guests are starting to arrive and it's just, it's wicked. We're creating a place that needs to be shared. And it's yeah, it's so so cool. I look out my window now in you know, I've got an office I used to just like sleep in London parks and a hammock in between trips and work literally just have my every 10 metres up with with a laptop. And that's how I that was my office. And now I've got a room and I look out and I can see the alpacas through through the woodland and oh, it's mad. Yeah, life is totally different. But I'm, I think my shoulders are bearing it. Okay. Yeah,

India Pearson  33:46  
I mean, I imagine getting that guest feedback makes it all worthwhile. A lot of that time, you know, when you're, you're making this thing, you've got this idea, and you know, it's going to be amazing, and when other people benefit from it, and benefit from being outdoors, from being around the animals from I guess I know that you've got things like compost toilets. And it's that idea of creating that low level living ethos, is that right? And that must feel really humbling that you've created this and people are having this positive experience from it. Even Wintrust a bit here, but more about that, like this low level living concept. Because I know it's it's a it's quite an important thing kind of theme at the campsite. Can you tell me more about it?

Dave Cornthwaite  34:36  
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm, I'd like to preface this with I'm no hippie, like, I'm not. I'm not like kind of, you know, I don't like talk to mother earth or any of that stuff. I just, but I just kind of I feel really lucky to be around. I do like, you know, being in the outdoors, it just kind of is really freeing and I think you know for For decades and decades, humans have obviously you know, they have a huge impact on the planet and each other and I just I really want to kind of go through life working out how I can tread as lightly as possible at the same time as making the most of how lucky we are just to be humans, you know, with the creativity and intelligence and suppose it intelligence that comes with that. So yeah, Big Sky is just a just a small kind of microcosm of trying to do the right thing. You know, compost toilet, we're, we're pretty off grid, most of our land, the house isn't, although where I'm working towards, we've got loads of solar on the roof now and we're moving towards going off grid the whole site is renewables powered by a couple of gas bottles. And we've just kind of worked out how to how to do that one, it keeps the bills down to obviously our carbon output is, is practically zero. And that just feels good. You know, it's crazy to me that normal toilets kind of flushed seven to 10 litres of perfectly decent drinking water away. Right? Yeah.

India Pearson  36:06  
compost toilets are amazing compost toilets, a genius.

Dave Cornthwaite  36:11  
They don't smell smell. They look absolutely brilliant because of one my extremely good work with palates and two M's fascination with fairy lights.

India Pearson  36:23  
That's good to know. Actually, that's good. Because we were getting married next year and trying to get married, married, we've already booked but the pace we've got this actually sounds very similar. And the reason that I fell in love with it because there was compost toilets on site, but they don't look that appealing. So that's a good idea. shovelling the cherry lights on the

Dave Cornthwaite  36:45  
fairy lights change everything. I think the best quote we've had last year was from someone who visited just for the day, and they went into one of the toilets and they came out. And they said, I'm gutted, I didn't need a poo, because I love being in there. That's I mean, if that's not a testimonial, I don't know what is. Like going going on in that respect, we've got you know, the, we've planted hundreds of trees, we've got a few more 100 Going in and before the end of March. So we'll have about one and a half 1000 new trees planted on site and then the the, the toilet waste that's composted down over the first year, feeds them. You know, the alpaca, alpaca poo is absolutely amazing. It's like magic beans. For gardeners, you can put it straight onto stuff. It doesn't need any time to mature, we even compress it down into firebricks. And after a season of drying out there, they don't smell at all and they burn longer than wood does. It's absolutely amazing. Yeah, we're just doing all kinds everything's on solar panels. And I love boiling the kettle and thinking we didn't pay a penny for that, you know, that's just there's so much. And we, we

India Pearson  37:58  
kind of kind of cheat in the big man, don't you like, look at this much, just really free.

Dave Cornthwaite  38:07  
But it's just sensible. It's, it's the way things are going. There's a bit of an investment upfront, but it definitely pays itself back. And it's so nice once it's in paying much, much less with so lucky with all of this, you know, as energy and oil etc goes up and up and up at the moment, we feel really insulated against that because we we live on electric from the sun, and it's the suit, you know, if you're in a position to do it, just do it because it's it feels good. And you start to understand your energy to is like being being a bit more in touch with the things you use and consume. It just, it just makes sense. Yeah, it sounds

India Pearson  38:45  
like you get so much out of living like that. And the planet does as well. So it just when, when. So, I've got a question that I'd like to ask you that I asked all my guests, which is looking back at the ripples you've made in your life? What are your biggest lessons that you've learned for keeping your mind and body healthy?

Dave Cornthwaite  39:07  
Hmm, good question. I mean, I think being just being true to yourself in every decision, I think, you know, when when a big decision is coming, that you know the answer, and you can be kind of misled by temptation, or, or, or ego or whatever it might be, but you always know what the right thing for you is somewhere between your head and your heart and your gut. And you've got to learn to listen to that voice. I think the best way to do that is to just to spend a lot of time outside never make a big decision in a room. You know, if you've got a conversation that you need to have someone a boss or a partner, and you don't think it's going to be very comfortable. Do it on a wall. You know, don't do it within four walls. I think those are my those are my residing principles when it comes to making big decisions which are they Are those like, cruxes of where life's gonna go next? And I think as long as you're really, really honest with yourself, then yeah, you're never going to avoid all the curveballs in life. And Success for me is being able to adapt. So yeah, good decisions. Stay outside. And I'm not going to say yes, more, but should

India Pearson  40:26  
be. Because I had to be in there didn't know. That's pretty good. Thanks. Thanks. And yeah, totally make make sense. So obviously, we don't know when your next adventure is going to be your next, you know, Expedition is going to be who knows, maybe it'll be in an alpaca. I'm sure people have had that question a few times. Is it going to be riding alpaca across the Sahara Desert? I don't know. Maybe. You'd never know. But if anyone wanted to sort of follow your journey, or even go and stay, Big Sky highway, well, how can I do that?

Dave Cornthwaite  41:01  
Yeah, cool. So the adventure stuff is it's just my name.com Dave cornthwaite.com. If you can't spell calm, Dave Korn will get you there. That's my little tag on the Instagram. Say yes, more is say yes. more.com or search on Facebook for the yes tribe. And yeah, we're big sky hideaway.com And you can have a look at our school bus and the yes bus. You can stay on that now. And we'll just come camping have a campfire. Yeah, just have a little Google the internet makes it very easy these days.

India Pearson  41:34  
The Internet does make it very easy. I have to say. Like, I'd share all the handles and everything at the end. It's always cool. Thanks so much, Dave. I would love to come and stay at Big Sky hideaway. One day is definitely on my list of places to come to. And I wish you all the best for the summer which is just around the corner so I'm sure you're going to be busy but it's going to be awesome.

Dave Cornthwaite  41:59  
Absolutely is getting warmer, the alpacas waiting.

India Pearson  42:04  
Thank you so much for listening to this episode for start a report podcast. If you liked what you heard, then please do write a review. It helps other like minded souls find this podcast too. If you want to get in touch and the best way to speak to me is probably via Instagram. And my handle is at with underscore India. All right, take care and speak to you soon.