Caldey Island

As the day was sunny and the sea calm Penny and I decided to take a boat trip around the local Caldey Island. The brochure talked about seals , cranes and puffins. We were exited as we didn’t see any puffins on the Isle of Mull but when we spoke to the organisers they said sorry the Puffins left last week for their holiday in Portugal, so no puffins again. We did see the cranes and seals….

Meanwhile Sue and Al went for a wander through the town and along the beach..

After coffee at a beachside cafe we went to see the Napaleonic era fort on St Catherines Island which is just metres away from the cafe.

The fort itself is a rectangular building that was constructed and finished in 1870 although the perceived threat of invasion by Napoleon III in the mid 1800’s was the reason for the project. It had gunports, 3 on each of the long sides and 3 positions pointing seaward on the roof. They were pretty weighty guns of 7 inch calibre and were to protect Tenby beaches and harbour.

It was never used then nor in the first world war, in 1940 it was equiped with multi barrel anti aircraft guns, it’s not known if they were ever fired in anger.

The island is owned by the local council but the fort is now in private hands, before WW2 it was used as a private residence, then as a holiday let, but the owners were in financial trouble and were trying to sell it but there were no buyers, fortunately for them but not the rest of Europe war was declared in 1939 and the fort was sold to the government for the top market value…….. It is now a museum still in private hands,

Unfortunately the electric generator was broken and some of it was very dark………. and scary!

After this it was off to an Italian restaurant for a well earned late lunch in this buzzy seaside town….