After enjoying the hospitality of my distant relatives in Lanja, I hit the tarmac early morning. The plan was to leave the NH-17 exactly at the point where I entered it on my last trip. That would complete the entire Mumbai-Goa coastal route. That point was Hathivale Titha. After that I took numerous turns on nondescript roads to reach Vijaydurg, my first stop for the day. My maps did not help me and again for the nth time I relied on locals. Vijaydurg is a 800 year old fort, so tells my enthusiastic guide Raghunandan Lele. He takes me around the fort for an hour in under a scorching noon sun. But the history is fascinating. The fort was called the Gibraltar by British as it was pretty inconquerable. It was built in a Hemadpanti architectural
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