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
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 
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! 
Monday 23 September 2024
Miradouros do Paredao... clouds rolling by & the view changing literally by the second. Very cool!
Monday 23 September 2024
View from Eira Do Serrado (nice looking hotel here) down the road we just drove (& will return on) ain't bad either!
Monday 23 September 2024
Miradouro da Eira do Serrado. Awesome lookout almost 500m above the valley below. What a spot!
Monday 23 September 2024
A lookout on the way to erm, another lookout. This is Miradouro da Malhada & view down into river Socorridos gorge.
Monday 23 September 2024
Another random stop, this time for coffee, cakes, meat pasty & you never can eat too much caco de bolo in Madeira! 
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
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.
