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.

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Blue skies above the piste at our local station. Great day on the mountain!

Saturday 3 February 2024

Post ride viewing: love the six nations, cheers! Well done England, but good to see an Aussie consolation try too wink

Saturday 3 February 2024

One of those 'waking up above the clouds' kind of days...

Tuesday 23 January 2024

Impromptu lunch double date. Yum! Plus afternoon dessert & drinks. Cheers! smile

Wednesday 17 January 2024

When you're outside working on a project then look up and see this...

Sunday 14 January 2024

Adios Donostia! Until the next time... smile

Sunday 14 January 2024

Brunch part 2: coffee & hot chocolate so thick you can almost eat it like pudding! Banoffee pie to die for! OMG! tongue

Sunday 14 January 2024

Many people having same brunch dish in this bar so followed on: ham & cheese tortilla. + croquettes for Pratiwi. Yum!

Sunday 14 January 2024

Good morning San Sebastian! Was up early-ish & ran full lap of La Concha beach. Feeling pretty peckish now... wink

Saturday 13 January 2024

After dinner stroll by the beach. Goodnight La Concha, see you in the morning...


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

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.

Short break - Autumn '23

Little trip to the Atlantic coast and back through French & Spanish Basque country.

France & Switzerland - Summer '23

Unfinished business in the Alps!

Last year we had planned to spend plenty of time in Switzerland but bad weather put a stop to that. Time to try again...

And success! In fact, things worked out so well we didn't even have time to take what has become a usual loop home through Germany - that will have to wait for next time.

Things went well with another easy jaunt across France. A chance to explore part of the Jura mountains on the French/Swiss border - well, they are mountains so loved this region of course!

Then on to Switzerland for walks, hikes and some truly epic bike riding.

As it turned out there was also time to meet friends in Annecy for a couple of group rides in the region, including another all day epic with giant charcuterie lunch. Good times all round!