Englishal
Well said!
My last flight was throught the solent zone and then north to a private strip.
It started with a bid of scud running along the coast but I didnt fancy the lowering base north through the solent zone. The guys there kindly allowed me a circling climb offshore in IMC to reach mca, continue up to 4,500 in IMC and route north through their zone. By the time I was near where I wanted to be the undercast had sufficient holes to allow a safe descent with a RIS as there was no approach. On balance I was far happier IMC at a comfortable height given that from an earlier report I expected to find broken cover at the strip. My friend continued north VFR and was down around 500 feet for a short while, not that it was a problem and in any event he had no alternative as his aircraft was not IFR equipted. However I would always far rather start my climb knowing precisely what was ahead and would certainly as Englishal says be much happier in IMC than struggling on VMC.
Of course whether you have an IMC or IR rating you are only as good as you are current.