These are a few of the caves I've been down since finding a reliable means of keeping the camera dry underground.

Calf Holes to Browgill

This is a great, grade II through trip, suitable for beginners, with an easy, short pitch in the open air to start, a stooping streamway in a bedding plane, an interesting contotion through to Browgill, where the character changes completely to beautiful water-sculpted streamway, and an easy exit.

Browgill cave: Trevor Brough and Tim Holden in Browgill cave near the slot through from Calf Holes cave.
Browgill cave: Trevor Brough crawling around in Browgill cave.
Calf holes, somewhere...: Martin Barnicott, Tim Holden and Mark Greenwood somewhere in Calf holes.
Waterfall in Browgill: Mark Greenwood, Tim Holden and Trevor Brough by the waterfall in Browgill cave, North Yorkshire, England.

Long Churn

Another very popular beginners trip, grade III. It's best to do it late in the day once the crowds have left. Lots of easy walking, with a few stooping and crawling sections and some pools to cross, not to mention the famous 'Cheesepress' and occasional easy climbs up the side of waterfalls.

The Cheesepress: Someone disappearing into the Cheesepress, a narrow slot in Lower Long Churn cave.

Giant's Hole

Giant's Hole is a popular Derbyshire beginners trip, at least as far as the top of the pitch (Garlands Pot). These photos are from a very enjoyable round trip down the famous "crabwalk" (a narrow, twisting streamway about 400m. long) and returning via the "Giant's windpipe", a low crawl in water.

Garlands Pot: Ian Popplestone about to descend Garlands Pot.
Garlands Pot: Ian descending the 8m. pitch of Garlands Pot.
Comic Act Cascade: Ian on the iron ladder at Comic Act Cascade, just below The Vice, in the Crabwalk.
The Giant's Windpipe: Emerging from the somewhat damp Giant's Windpipe, which occasionally sumps.
Above the Crabwalk: On the short traverse above the Crabwalk after exiting the Giant's Windpipe, heading for the descent climb.

P8 - "Jack pot"

P8 is a classic trip in Derbyshire with a couple of wet pitches and some entertaining passages down below them.

Above the streamway: Keeping out of the streamway in the lower reaches of P8.

Streaks Pot

I thought Streaks Pot, in Derbyshire, was a very worthwhile trip. It consists of a fair amount of crawling, some flat out in water, and squeezing through boulders and is great fun. In particular, the Lu Blue sump is a really remarkable colour. It can be done as a through trip but the upper entrance is somewhat unstable and not recommended.

Lower entrance: Looking down into the lower entrance to the cave as Barny enters the initial, flat-out crawl.
Route 66: Route 66 is one of the more spacious areas of the cave, not to mention comfortable to crawl on.
The Mousehole: The whole of the cave cuts through layers of oysters; fortunately, since they're rather sharp, they're always on the roof.

Cwm Orthin

Moving slightly Westwards, to North Wales, these are a few pictures of a circuit in the Cwm Orthin slate mine. Whilst lots of this mine is unstable, particularly in the higher levels, this round trip is relatively safe and only crosses one, short and fairly solid, bridge.

Entrance: This is the shored up entrance to Cwm Orthin.
Top of descent ramp: To the left of Barny, Owie and Matthew is the beginning of the first descent ramp.
Descending the ramp: The slate angle in Cwm Orthin is roughly 30 degrees. This is one of the two ramps between the levels.
A bridge: Many of the bridges are far less substantial, now, than this. The short route we took only includes this one!
Detail of bridge: A deep, dark hole beyond the crumbling edge of the bridge.
Ancient newspapers: This paper was pasted to the wall by miners during the war; unfortunately more modern graffiti has partially obscured it.

Dowbergill passage

Dowbergill passage is an excellent, mile long rift joining Providence Pot to Dow Cave, near Kettlewell. Whilst the Providence end is a little tight, muddy and bouldery, the Dow Cave end is a spacious stream passage. Between these two lies the rift, 20m. high in places and up to 4m. wide, which has apparently been the scene of more rescues than any other cave in Northern England. The reason for this is fairly apparent; whilst the through trip is only around two hours if you know the way, the route is not obvious in places and the only available dimension is vertical - it's not difficult to end up high above the streamway on some rather frightening traverses. On the other hand, smug, thin people, like me, can stay low down most of the way. I don't have any pictures of Dowbergill yet but Barny, Matt and Owie kindly agreed to go through on the 8/9th May and there are, therefore, a few shots in the camera awaiting scanning. I don't imagine these will be great but they may be informative for finding some of the trickier bits in the rift - they also show Owie, aged 12, going though the rift, which shows that it's maybe not as serious as some would have you believe.

Providence Pot: At the entrance to Providence, a shaft sunk into the streamway and supported by scaffolding.
Calcite slope: Matthew and Owen changing into drysuits at the bottom of the calcite slope which leads quickly to the Blasted Crawl in Providence.
Stalagmite Corner: Owen emerging into Dowbergill Passage at Stalagmite Corner.
The Bridge: Owen beneath the bridge in Bridge Cavern.
Choke beneath Brew: A purely informational photo of the choke beneath Brew Chamber taken from the Dow Cave end.
Canal beneath Gypsum traverse: A typical section of canal beneath the Gypsum traverse at the Dow Cave end of the rift.
Wide canal at Dow end: The spacious canal at the Dow Cave end, just before the flowstone duck.
Flowstone duck: The final obstacle, the flowstone duck a minute or so short of emerging into Dow Cave.

Pool Sink to County, Ease Gill

These shots are from a trip into the Ease Gill system via Pool Sink, exiting via the Manchester Bypass flood escape route. Whilst this is hardly a long trip by Ease Gill standards, Pool Sink is an excellent streamway with some interesting pitches and fine passages, Manchester Bypass is a good bit of muddy crawling and the route takes in one end of the enormous, and very impressive, Corne's Cavern.

Entrance: The Pool for which the sink is named. The entrance is the narrow slot behind Owen's head.
First pitch: Barny about to descend the first pitch.
Third(?) pitch: Owen descending a pitch.
Third(?) pitch: Barny descending a pitch.
At the main streamway: Looking into the lower reaches of Pool Sink from the main streamway below Holbeck Junction.
Iron Ladder at Stop Pot: Owen at the top of the iron ladder in Stop Pot.
Formations: The decorated passage, leading from Mainline Terminus to Old English Chamber, which forms the beginning of the Manchester Bypass.
Spangle passage: Owie in the inappropriately named Spangle passage, clearly showing that he's a better size for this than most cavers.
The Showerbath: Owie passing under the Showerbath leading to Oxford Circus in County Pot.

Swinsto Hole

Swinsto was my first ever underground trip, excluding show caves, and is a superb through trip. It's a great cave for getting people hooked on the underground, being entertaining throughout and with the major bonus of emergence a) somewhere other than the way you go in and b) within 50 metres of the car.

Simpson's Pot

Simpson's has many similarities to Swinsto, its final pitch dropping into the Swinsto streamway either just before the last little pitch of Swinsto or just after it if the Great Aven pitch is descended instead of Slit Pot. In wet weather, in common with Swinsto, it can be extremely 'sporting' and exit from the Kingsdale master cave may require traversing up in the roof for a while. High water levels also cause the short duck to become a sump.