“you said 1ft under a thick overcast was ok, does that mean then that cloud seperation doesn`t apply to what is above you?”
No! The VFR rule I was demonstrating is;
At or below 3000 ft, 140kn or less, clear of cloud and in sight of the surface, Min 3km vis.
If you fly at 3000ft and 140kn, you can see some ground below, the vis is 3km but there is a solid overcast directly above you then you are VMC. There is no “500ft from cloud” rule. I am not suggesting this is a good idea as you have lost any hope of see and avoid if some chancer is descending through cloud with no radar service and not talking to anyone then you could be in deep dodo, but that is admittedly statistically unlikely.
It is also fine to fly at 3000ft with a broken layer of cloud below you, provided you keep the above rule in mind. It is often possible to carry out long Xcountry flights in quite poor weather and remain totally legal by using the above rule. It is however vital that you have the skill and the equipment to get you out of trouble if the weather gets unexpectedly bad.
I recently toured Scotland from the midlands on a weekend when the vis was 3k but there was NSW and nil wind. I had to use VOR to backup the nav, but again this is perfectly ok. I have also configured my aircraft so its normal cruse speed is 138kn, so I do not get a speeding ticket!
Rod1