We send a guide from one of the villages rather than a mountain leader. He knows whose orchard you are walking through, which birds are calling, and where the leopard came down last winter. The pace is his - slow, with stops.

Four hours with a tea house at the turnaround, which usually means eggs and parathas on a bench with a view most hotels would build a terrace for. Back by lunch.

March to June for the rhododendron and the clearest peaks, late September to November after the monsoon has washed the air. July and August are rain and leeches, and we would rather you did something else.