Amber alert: On the trail of Lithuanian gold

Heidi Fuller-Love hunts for hidden gems, wards off evil spirits and indulges in natural amber treatments on a unique Baltic tour

Amber, Lithuania’s most prized asset (Heidi Fuller-Love)

The storm that had turned the calm sheet of the Baltic Sea into a wave-tossed war zone during the night abated towards dawn. In the cotton-thick misty light above Melnrage beach I could see that the amber pickers were already hard at work.

“We love storms,” says Igoris Osnac, my amber guide, as he eagerly pulls on the three pairs of socks, rubber overalls and big boots he’ll wear to confront the icy waters below.

I’d arrived in the seaside resort of Klaipeda the previous day, after a three-hour drive from Vilnius along Holland-flat roads fringed by sparse, silver-legged birch forests that were planted here during the 50 years of Soviet occupation.