Tourists get stranded after trying to drive to Welsh island (and blame satnav)

They had travelled all the way from Illinois for a quiet break on the picturesque Welsh coast.

But when two American tourists tried to make their way to a remote monastery for a spot of sightseeing, they found themselves falling victim to the curse of the sat-nav.

The blundering holidaymakers put the co-ordinates of the monastery into their GPS system, hoping to drive to the remote community of Cistercian monks on Caldey Island.

^{Caldey Island,foreground, off the coast of Tenby,background (Athena)}

What they did not realise, was that their destination was half a mile off the Pembrokeshire coast and could only be reached by ferry.

The middle-aged couple, who have not been identified, refused to be put off by the expanse of sea ahead and blindly followed the GPS, driving straight onto one of Tenby’s popular beaches.

It remains unclear whether they would have attempted to drive into the water, as their hire car promptly got stuck in the sand.

The Americans were said to have been stunned to discover that they could not drive to the island.

They would have been even more embarrassed to learn that the 20-minute boat ride cannot even be made at this time of year.

The red-faced pair had to be towed off the beach by a group of passers-by, who took three hours to tug them to safety.

^{Tenby beach, where the American tourists got stuck (Athena)}

Their Vauxhall Zafira Tourer had to be dug out of the sand before being pulled free by a 4X4.

Pete Prosser, Tenby’s tourist chief, said: "The couple were surprised they couldn't drive to Caldey, and highly embarrassed when they got stuck.

"They won't be the first to have their vehicle rescued from the beach, but possibly the first to have set a Sat Nav for Caldey."

Caldey Island is home to a group of Trappist monks who make perfumes and chocolates for summer visitors to their monastery.

There are around a dozen monks currently living there and they spend most of their time living in silence.

The American tourists are by no means the first to find their travel plans had gone awry after following a GPS system.

A British couple and two teenagers were stranded in the Australian Outback for four days after their sat-nav told them to take a shortcut through the bush.

Paul and Lorraine Emptage were driving across Australia with their son Stephen, 15, and friend Andrew Smith, 18, in 2010 when they got stuck in mud during torrential rain.

In 2007, day-trippers from Gloucestershire on a Christmas shopping trip to Lille, France, found themselves in the wrong country, after a satnav error diverted their coach 100 miles off course to the town of Lille in Belgium.

The same year, a Czech lorry driver was led astray by his sat-nav and ended up stuck in a narrow country lane in Ivybridge, near Plymouth. He had to sleep in his cab for three nights before a tractor was able to tow him out.

In 2011, a lorry driver caused £115,000-worth of damage when he got stuck in a narrow lane near Colchester, Essex, after failing to heed warning signs telling him to ignore his sat-nav.

And in 2008, another trucker who was taking luxury cars to the island of Gibraltar ended up 1,600 miles away - after following his sat-nav to Gibraltar Point in Lincs.

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