Welcome to Rob's World, the (cheesily titled) homepage of Robin Rainton.

Given I'm mainly too lazy/busy (take your pick) to write a full 'blog very often there's now a Microblog which you'll also find on Facebook and Twitter, and maybe a few other places too.


Microblog... everyday ramblings interspersed with posts from trips and other activities.

Tuesday 24 September 2024

Goodnight Funchal... smile

Tuesday 24 September 2024

Dinner at O Polar, Funchal. More superb meat - this time steak skewers & roast chicken. And dessert of course grin Nom!

Tuesday 24 September 2024

Post hike refreshments... coffee, beer & passion fruit dessert (which was both unusual & delicious). Nom! tongue

Tuesday 24 September 2024

Miradouro da Bica da Cana. More sublime views from mountains to the sea!

Tuesday 24 September 2024

Today's hike part 2: Fanal forest. Many of these beautiful trees have been dated at 5-800 years old! So cool!

Tuesday 24 September 2024

Part 1 of today's hike: down to the waterfall source of this levada, through lush forest & past fern walls. Magical!

Monday 23 September 2024

Goodnight Funchal! We're not quiet home yet, so slightly a view from the West grin

Monday 23 September 2024

Stop on the cruise home for some sunset shots. Somewhere on the Madeira coast West of Ponta do Sol.

Monday 23 September 2024

Road near Ponta do Sol, semi-closed due to waterfall in the middle! Incredible shots from Pratiwi as I drove through!

Monday 23 September 2024

Sunset dinner at the Sabor aMar Fish Factory. Calamari, mussels, octopus, swordfish, cheesecake. Nom, nom, nom! tongue


The below are collections of posts/images organised by trip or subject or other events. Click on the title or image to view each.

Madeira - Sep '24

Work in progress...

France & Italy - Summer '24

A trip to the Alps is becoming our (erm... my?) go-to summer excursion, so off we go again. But... the strange weather of 2024 continues and things didn't quiet go to plan.

Never mind, a detour along French & Italian Riviera isn't exactly a hardship! After that and a brief stop in the Italian lakes (always a pleasure) then back to the mountains via Aosta valley & a return to France.

So not to plan, but always an adventure. Great food, walks, hikes and some epic cycling of course!

24 hours in San Sebastian - Jan '23

Early birthday celebration in the city of gastronomic delights!

England - Nov/Dec '23

Impromptu trip to England for handful of nights. Mainly to visit family with the bonus of catching up with and a few friends along the way. Very wintry feeling (and the usual pre-xmas silliness) but with stops at a couple of cosy country venues and plenty of our favourite food we made it through wink

Bali - Oct/Nov '23

Ostensibly this trip was an opportunity to catch up with Pratiwi's family, most of whom we hadn't seen since Thailand & Indonesia, Mar '15. Bali was the chosen spot for this reunion, and while I wasn't really looking forward to the long trip from Europe (much further than from Australia) can't really complain about having to spend 2+ weeks in paradise.

As you can imagine, much merriment ensued. But while westerners might think this means plenty of boozy nights, in fact the Asian equivalent appears to involve feasting on all manner of food. For us, foods that are very hard to come by in France so all the better.

Sure, there were trips to the beach, mountains, temples and even couple of snorkeling excursions but always we came home to a feast of some kind. Gotta say, I got behind this wholeheartedly and had a blast.