Will I feel claustrophobic?

Most beginner trips have plenty of room and only optional squeezes. Guides pick routes to suit the group, so you can enjoy the big chambers and skip the tight bits.

How fit do I need to be?

A basic level of fitness handles a beginner trip. There is some scrambling and crawling, but it is taken at a sensible pace.

Do I need experience?

None. A guide leads the trip and teaches you what you need as you go.

Warm base layers and old clothes underneath. Helmet, lamp, oversuit and often wellies are provided.

With a qualified guide, the right kit and a route matched to your level, yes. The guide manages the hazards and the navigation.

What is it actually like down there?

Cool, dark and quiet, with the odd stream and some beautiful formations. Strangely peaceful between the more exciting scrambles.

Caving in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire packs in the Dales and Moors — canyoning, caving, bushcraft and axe throwing across Yorkshire and the Humber. Canyon and gorge-walk the Dales' rivers, descend famous cave systems, build bushcraft skills, and try axe throwing and team adventures. With two national parks on the doorstep, it's a brilliant base for underground and outdoor thrills.

Caving takes you into the hidden landscape beneath the hills: streamways, echoing chambers, formations that took millennia to grow, and the odd tight squeeze to keep things interesting. Your headtorch shows the next few feet, and the rest is anticipation.

You need no experience, just a sense of adventure and no strong objection to getting muddy. Beginner trips are chosen to suit the group, and a guide leads the way, so worries about the dark or tight spaces are usually smaller than people fear once they are down there.

The instructors on adventuro run guided caving trips for all levels, with helmets, lamps and oversuits provided. You come out filthy, buzzing and seeing the hills differently.

Caving in North Yorkshire

Horizontal ‘Fun Caving’ – Ingleton, North Yorkshire

Introduction to Caving for Beginners – Lake District

Skills Workshops for Recreational Cavers – Lake District

Horizontal ‘Fun Caving’ – Ingleton, North Yorkshire

Introduction to Caving for Beginners – Lake District

Skills Workshops for Recreational Cavers – Lake District