Two American tourists beached themselves in Wales – while trying to drive to an island.

The pair, from Texas, had planned to drive to Caldey Island to see a group of Cistercian monks who inhabit the island. However, Caldey Island – being an island – proved difficult to drive to.

The plan wasn’t particularly well researched it seems, with the holidaymakers putting their trust in their Sat Nav – which kept quiet about the lack of roads between them and their desired destination and led them to a beach, where they promptly became stuck in the sand.

According to the Tenby Island Facebook page: “Three separate attempts to tow out, much digging and three hours later they managed to get back to the safety of the slipway courtesy of a local 4 x 4.”

ITV reports that witnesses say the couple were “highly embarrassed” by the incident.

There is a ferry service to the island but it wasn’t in operation at the time, and local resident Les Langford commented on the Tenby Island Facebook page he directed the pair towards the pier where the ferry would go from – if it was travelling.

“They stopped at Penally railway station trying to find the road to Caldey, it was on there satnav showing a road from Penally to Caldey. I sent them back to the harbour in Tenby to get to Caldey, but I did not mean by car,” he said.

There are roughly a dozen monks living on Caldey Island - which lies approximately one and a half miles off the Welsh coast.

They make a living on the island by selling home-made perfume and chocolates to tourists.