Going back to where to land at night in a emergency going for the big black area may be a lake or a mountain.
Some years ago i spent many a happy hour or ten flying all night out of HG (WBAnot) around the Uk to clock up some night hours for the ATPL.
In England there was about six airfields to land at after about 9pm so most of my x/c was routed close to these airfields. This gave me alot of time to study the ground.
I often felt you could do no worse in the event of engine failure to turn into wind (usually non at the surface at night) set up low RofD and dodge whatever the landing light picked out at the last moment. Alternatively aim for the car headlights in the hope that alongside will be a field.
Even the countryside at 2am in the morning is criss crossed with car headlights or farm building lights.
I always enjoyed this time of year when night training started.
When everyone else is getting depressed of the thoughts of long winter nights, as pilots we can look forward to some of the most rewarding flying experiences.