If I go unplanned IMC on a VFR flight, it will be Climb, 7700, Mayday call and request diversion
There isn't much point in debating flight in IMC with a pilot who would do the above. It's fair enough for a PPL but it removes all credibility for his views on the safety of flight in IMC. It's a bit like me expressing views on transatlantic navigation of a 747.
As for Wales, I fly there fairly often for a purpose, and the problem there is that the clouds are often below the hilltops. Conditions like that are simply not flyable VFR, no matter how slow the aircraft is. They are flyable IFR but then where is one going to land? An all-GPS DIY approach, or an unofficial NDB procedure into say Welshpool? A lot of the time, Wales just isn't flyable and that's it.