Want to explore France’s wine regions in a cheap, sustainable way? Try carpooling

You can’t cram a bottle of Champagne in your plane carry-on; Anna Richards tests the cheaper, greener alternative to exploring France

Wine road (Route des Grands Crus) near Beaune, Burgundy, France (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The windows of the houses in the little town of Troyes, Champagne, sparkle with light like open doors on an Advent calendar. The snow has disappeared since I set off, and although the air has a distinct nip to it, I am cosy and warm, enjoying a lavish café gourmand at Le Jardin with a glass of champagne in my hand. “When in Champagne,”I think.

With a split life between my family and many of my friends living in the UK and me in Lyon, France (not to mention falling into the age bracket where all of my friends are getting married), I make the journey between Lyon and Cornwall, where I grew up, all too often. It could easily be a recipe for an elephantine carbon footprint – so to avoid this, I never fly between the two.

Instead, I usually travel by rail – but while I can’t praise Eurostar highly enough, the high fares can be a stinger, and at Christmas, train strikes on both sides of the Channel were proving prohibitive. So I decided to road trip via Champagne, listing my ride on Blablacar and picking up passengers and Christmas presents en route.