In the first of a series in which writers reflect on a place that is special to them, a novelist finds more than he expects when he enters a beautiful hilltop church

Adam’s Peak, in Sri Lanka, is a mountain where, in Christian and Muslim traditions, Adam is said to have stepped down from Paradise to the next best place. There is a stone tablet at its summit bearing the imprint of his giant foot. The Hindu tradition suggests that what we see is the stamp of Shiva’s dance of ­creation; for Buddhists, it is Lord Buddha’s footprint from his last visit to the island. A sacred site: Sri Pada. It seems language and religion shape what we see more than what might be there.

I have been to the summit only once, 40 years ago, and couldn’t quite tell what the indentation was; I don’t expect to see it again, given the four-hour climb required to reach the top of the mountain, but it has been a beacon of sorts in recent years.