Oases and Peaks at World's End (India)

Thirteen nights across Ladakh on a Royal Enfield, and this is the operator’s hardest Indian route: it climbs Khardung La and then goes higher still.

New Delhi opens it, then the flight to Leh and a day to acclimatise before any riding, followed by a loop of the eastern Indus valley and its monasteries. Lamayuru comes next on the road towards Kashmir, with the monastery there perched above eroded cliffs that get called a moonscape and deserve it.

Temisgam follows over the Fotu La by way of Bodh Kharbu, then back to Leh through Hemis Shukpachan, the monastery at Likir, the village of Yangthang and Basgo, a former royal capital. Hunder is next over Khardung La at 5,370 metres, often described as the highest motorable road in the world, with the Zanskar and Karakoram ranges in view and sand dunes in the Nubra valley on the far side.

A day trip into the Balti region follows, which was part of Pakistan until 1971 and remains Shia Muslim and culturally distinct from Buddhist Ladakh, with lunch to match. Pangong Lake comes next on a riverside track up the Shyok through Tangtse, to water lying on the Indo-Tibetan border. Tso Moriri follows on an unconventional route between mountain lakes, over a pass at 5,437 metres, through the Rupshu and Changtang country of cashmere goat herders and wild kyang. Bike rental is included and the price is quoted per person. Altitude rather than terrain is the governing difficulty here, and the acclimatisation days are built in for good reason.