Seven nights is the floor, and the first two are deliberately wasted: arriving by air puts you at 3,500 metres and nothing else in the itinerary works if you skip acclimatisation. After that, the Indus monasteries, Nubra over Khardung La, and Pangong if you have the days.

We run these as private convoys with two vehicles, oxygen aboard and drivers who have worked the passes for years. Hotels in Leh are modest by design; the camps in Nubra and at Pangong are seasonal and the good ones are booked months ahead.

The season is June to September. Roads from Manali and Srinagar open late and close early, and a July journey over one of them is one of the great drives in Asia - but it is three days, not a transfer.