Guided-mode characteristics of hollow-core photonic crystal fibre (HC-PCF) are experimentally and theoretically investigated. The transmission spectrum in the range from 755 to 845 nm is observed and the loss is measured to be 0.12 dB/m at 800 nm by cut-back method. Based on the full-vector beam propagation method and the full-vector plane-wave method, the characteristics of mode field over propagation distance 1 m are simulated, and the results show that the propagation efficiency can be above 80%. Compared with the fundamental guided mode well confined in air core within shorter propagation distance, the second-order guided mode leaks into the cladding region and gradually attenuates due to larger refractive index difference. The primary loss factors in HC-PCF and the corresponding solutions are elementarily discussed.