Proving that romance isn’t dead, the couple found two giant packages of cocaine on the beach (Picture: Jam Press)

There is very little as classily romantic as a walk on the beach with the person you love.

But finding more than £50 million of Class A drugs might change the mood a bit.

This is what happened to a couple hunting for shells in Réville, Normandy, France, on February 26.

The pair were strolling down the beach when they spotted a pile of suspicious construction bags washed up on the shore.

The couple didn’t re-enact From Here to Eternity with the cocaine, though (Picture: Jam Press)

They immediately called the police, who soon discovered the packages were filled with 800 kilograms (0.88 tonnes) of cocaine.

An amount of drugs of that magnitude is estimated to have a street value of around £53.3 million.

The bags had been kept afloat at sea by canisters and life jackets, and was tied together with rope.

They had washed up on the shore during low tide from the English Channel.

Speaking to local media about the ordeal, the unnamed couple said: ‘Every time there is a storm, a lot of things wash up on the beach.

‘But we usually come here to collect shells, not cocaine. Boats are passing this coast all the time, I imagine there are a lot of traffickers.’

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The French police said they had launched a ‘technical and scientific’ investigation, searching for DNA on the packaging.

It is not unheard of for shipments lost at sea to wash up on the coast – the French authorities report having to deal with them several times a year.

But this is an exceptionally huge load of illicit cargo.

In 2019, 1.6 tonnes of cocaine washed up on the coastline after a ship shed its load during a violent storm.

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‘We usually come here to collect shells, not cocaine.’