Trollfjord, sea battle and legend

The Trollfjord is so narrow that even seagulls wonder whether to turn off. The sun is slanting, the rocks on the left and right are pressed together like pubescent trolls, and right in the middle of it all is our boat, which looks like it's booked a 1:10 scale cruise.

The Battle of Trollfjord? Sounds like fantasy, but in 1890 it was pure capitalism with fish. Steamships versus fishing boats, nets versus existential fear. Big shipowners wanted everything – the small fishermen wanted to survive. There was rowing, cursing, and fighting. In the end, the nets were more damaged than the illusion of fairness in Norwegian fishing.

The legend? Well. It's said that trolls once lived here, as big as trucks, ugly as Monday morning, hungry for anything that moves. Today, when fog rolls in, the old folks claim it's the trolls secretly searching for their share of the cod – but it's probably just the next excursion boat full of pensioners and too little coffee.

And so we chug through the fjord, thinking of wild trolls and angry fishermen – and hoping that at least the next seagull doesn't have a lobby.