Les Ecrehou
Les Ecrehou are without doubt the most untouched of all the Channel Islands. They consist of a scattering of tiny islands halfway between Jersey and the French mainland, only two of which, Marmourtier and Blanche Ile, are inhabited. Here the islanders live a real Robinson Crusoe existence, dependent on the sea for their livelihood and completely impervious to the attractions of modern progress. ‘
Blanche Ile is just over 250 yards long and the bigger of the two and boasts a most unusual sight for such a small island. - a two storey house. Marmoutier, about 200 yards long, has a row of a dozen little cottages clinging tenaciously to its rocky surface. One of the other islands of the group, Maitre Isle, has been inhabited in the past (there are the ruins of an ancient chapel still visible), but now due to the difficulty of making a landfall it is left to the sea birds who cluster there to nest.
Fishermen from Jersey are quite frequent visitors to the islands - and they provide the only method of getting to Les Ecrehou for the really determined holidaymaker. The fisherthen come to fish the area which always provides good hauls and stop at the islands for the local seaweed which is particularly good for manure. In the past the islands have served as havens for smugglers and there are also stories that during rumbustious elections on Jersey some of the competing parties were not above kidnapping voters and “exiling” them on Lee Ecrehou and thus nullifying their votes! .
One of the few sights on the islands is the cottage on Blanche Ile which belonged to Philip Pinel. Pinel was a Jersey fisherman who settled on the island in the first half of the 19th century and was soon referred to throughout the islands as the “King of the Ecrehou” because of his substantial trade with Jersey in lobsters and seaweed.
Unquestionably the most striking building in the group is the Jersey Customs Building on Marmoutier, a dignified white building complete with the island’s emblem of three rampant leopards on one wall.
A visit to the two main islands can be most interesting and rewarding (the sea trip is extremely bracing, too). And for the lazy Sightseer there is always the unique fact that whatever he wants to see and wherever it is, he will never have to walk more than 250 yards in any given direction to get there!
Postcript: Now you can get there by RIB voyages
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Correctly spelt for once as Les Ecrehou, as on all current official British Admiralty charts and French government references. This is because the name is not French, which the French recognize. The name 'Ecrehou' is Norse in origin. "Esker" as in Skerry meaning a stony bank, or an island, Maitre Ile, with rocks surrounding it and 'Hou', the toponym found also in Jethou, Lihou, Brecqhou, Burhou and other islets, derives from holm, meaning island.On early maps, described as Rochers d'Ecrehou. Sadly this historic Norse link has been lost in favour of adding the now commonplace incorrect "s" and even incorrect accents as in Les Écréhous, in local and social media. The usual Jersey anglicized assumption that all names following "Les" should be in the plural is completely incorrect, in this case.I was in contact with a learned French professor some years ago and he produced a paper confirming the correct name as Les Ecrehou.
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