A day with crappy vis, about 5000m at most, flying from Blackpool to Carslisle in a C152 with minimal navigation instruments. The cloud base was scattered or broken, around 3000' - should have been plenty high enough for the flight, but as I started approaching some high ground I got a little nervous about the lack of vis. No problem - climbed above the cloud, tracked to Dean Cross VOR (cross-checking position by peering through gaps in the clouds at regular intervals) and then descended into Carlisle for lunch.
After lunch, decided to head back the same way. Climbed above the clouds and picked up a radial from the VOR which took me out over Morcambe Bay. The clouds had started to get thicker, though, and the gaps smaller, and it wasn't too long before I lost sight of the surface.
I started taking cross-cuts from Poll Hill VOR to confirm my position, planning on descending below the clouds once clear of the Lake District and over the sea. Then I spotted a huge TCU ahead of me, right on my track. I turned left to divert around it, and figured out which radial from Dean Cross this now put me on to re-establish my position. Checked the chart, and realised that this radial would take me right through the Cark parachute zone. Turned left even further and picked up a slightly more easterly radial to keep clear of Cark.
Once that problem was dealt with, I carried on taking cross-cuts from Poll Hill. Only my radial from Poll Hill didn't seem to be changing. After a few miles I started to get concerned, and looked at my chart for the reason. Then I found it - the radial I was now tracking from Dean Cross actually took me straight to Poll Hill - so I couldn't use Poll Hill for cross-cuts.
Now I was uncertain of my position, except that I was somewhere on a line between Dean Cross and Poll Hill, with controlled airspace somewhere ahead of me down to 3500', and an MSA quite a bit higher than that. I contacted Blackpool Radar, but I was too far north for them to get a radar fix on me.
Then I saw, through a gap in the clouds, some water. Great - problem solved! If there's water down there, I must be over the sea. I began a descent to visual conditions, planning on stopping the descent at 2000' if not visual, but expecting the cloudbase to be much higher than that.
Fortunately - very fortunately - the cloud base was quite a bit higher. Because the water I'd seen wasn't the sea, it was Lake Windemere, and the ground around me came quite a bit higher than the altitude I'd planned on stopping my descent at.
Lessons learnt - nothing wrong with IMC flight, so long as it is planned as an IMC trip, and in a suitably equipped aircraft. I am much more wary about setting out VFR and deciding part way through the trip to turn it into IFR now - I decide beforehand which it's going to be, and stick with it.
Also, ask for help if you've messed up. When Blackpool said they couldn't see me on radar, I should have told them that I was uncertain of my position. There were lots of options, probably the easiest being to get QDMs until I could be seen on radar, then an SRA to land. Instead, I tried to carry on by myself, and nearly paid the price.
FFF
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