TWO cavers on an expedition to explore underground cave systems in China have arrived in the area they plan to explore.

Alister Renton, 24, of Helsington Laithes, and Jon Riley, 28, of Garden Street, Kendal, will spend the next three weeks in a remote area of south-east China, using whitewater techniques to forge a route along underground rivers and canyons.

This week, the international 16-man team marked obvious cave entrances and was planning to descend a 200-metre shaft never before explored in search of an underground river.