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Published: November 17th 2009
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8:20 PM
By the time the car had crossed the south coast’s flat plains, gradually moved in an upward direction and then back down a steep slope into Vik, it was starting to get dark. We quickly checked into the hostel, which was more like a family guesthouse on the hill, and went straight out for a walk into the town before the light completely failed. The others seemed a bit dubious of going out for a walk at first, mainly because the howling winds seemed to be threatening to rip the hostel away from its hillside residence, but I think we all silently agreed that if that did happen, it was probably best if we were elsewhere at the time. On the way down, we took the main path that we had driven up, crossed Route 1 (which, although it is Iceland’s main road, was cobblestoned as it passed through the town) and headed onward to the black sand beach. The tide was in here, and the sea pretty rough, waves hitting the 56m high stacks just down the coast were sending spray right to the top of them. Fully refreshed by the wind and now in complete darkness,
we thought it was probably time to head back to the hostel for our first meal of the day. Instead of heading back up the road we came in, we took a little mountain path, crossing the river over rickety wooden bridges a couple of times before trekking up a field on the hill that led to the chicken sheds just at the back of the hostel.
Vik (or Vík í Mýrdal to give the town its full name) is probably a good indicator of the population of Iceland. Reykjavik is by far the most densely populated area in the country, holding around two-thirds of the entire country. That’s not exactly big, though, the 202,000 in Reykjavik is a fraction of the people that live in London, or even Birmingham. In fact, the population of Wolverhampton is just over 250,000, probably big enough not only to hold the whole of Reykjavik, but probably most of the south coast as well. Vik is a pretty major town in Iceland, enough for all of the road signs to include it right from when we left Reykjavik. Like all major towns, it is absolutely brimming with people, to the point where
the population is nearly 300. Most of the population appear to be staying in our hostel tonight.
The hostel is probably both the smallest and the busiest we have stayed at so far - all six beds in our dorm are full, there are four more rooms just on our floor, and there appears to be only one shower. It is also the cheapest place I have ever stayed in, at just under £10 per night, which may have something to do with its popularity. We are now just waiting our turn to get in the kitchen for that elusive first meal of the day, but more and more people keep appearing out of the woodwork, so we could be in for a long wait yet.
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