Not sure quite what to do with myself, I found a place to buy some pizza and parked up for the night on a long strip of road that juts out into the harbour and provides the border between Spanish Melilla and Morocco. After a good sleep only vaguely interrupted by the fact that it was where all of the local hoons drag their zuped up cars, I had a quick look around Melilla and then headed for the border.

It had all been quite hectic up until now and I was looking forward to finally getting into Morocco and finding somewhere to relax and gather my babbling thoughts. So I didn't know that the day I had chosen to cross the border was the 1st day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month where people fast during daylight hours.

This had the huge advantage of making the border extremely quiet at 11am when I crossed. I was through within 15 minutes. The basic procedure is drive into the border area. Stop at the first set of huts or where somebody in a uniform waves you to do so (ignore anybody not in a uniform). Do immigration for yourself first. Basically fill out a form they give you and get your passport stamped at the first hut.

Then find the customs shed (back of the immigration shed in Melilla) and take your vehicle reg document with you. The guy there was helpful and spoke good english which made things easy. He will issue you with two identical pieces of paper for your vehicle (ask for 6 months which is the maximum). You must look after these as you must have them when you go to leave. "it will be a big problem" if you don't have them as he put it.

He then inspected the back on the landy by making me open the back door for 3 seconds and asked if I had anything unusual, or any guns. And that was it, free to go, though they have a cue of officers that you must drive slowly through and show your paperwork to first.

Tip: On the paperwork they give you for your vehicle, check what date they have put next to where it says "VALABLE JUSQU'AU". this is the date when you must have removed your vehicle from Morocco else it belongs to the king! They only gave me 2 months to start with, but I asked them to change it to 6 and they were happy to do so.

After a quick stop in the city of Nador at an ATM to get some local currency I headed off into Morocco a happy boy. It was good to be here at last.

On the ferry over I had read up on what I was going to do first, and had decided that Saidia on the northern coast right next to the Algerian border seemed like a good quiet place to get my bearings and so drove along the small coastal roads towards Saidia...