Passing along the A1 road from Colombo to Kandy, those who don’t know the history of the road would be forgiven for thinking they see a war monument. The great obelisk of Dawson’s Column towers 38 metres above where the road meets the railway line in Kadugannawa, 100km from Colombo. The column is actually a tribute to the man who planned and executed the road, which cuts through the hills between the two cities and took 11 years to build.
If you’re in the area track down the caretaker, who will let you in and lend you a torch to climb the 112 wooden stairs and see the view from the top.