Shortly after PPL issue, got airborne early morning in a Beagle Pup with two passengers. Broken cloud with plenty of sunny holes. Shocked to find we entered cloud at about 400ft and broke out on top at about 800ft into clear skies. Looked around for the airfield to see that the 'sunny holes' didn't seem so big from above.
Where am I? Where is the airfield? How do I get back down?
Flew a timed circuit, trying to appear calm, with the passengers enthusing about the lovely view of the clouds. Poor fools - don't they know we're all about to die?
Saw a hole in the clouds as I turned 'final', in roughly the right place. Decided to go for it. Full flap, carb heat on, let down to 400ft to see fields, houses, trees but no airfield! Climbed back up above the cloud. Passengers thought it was all deliberate!
Flew another timed circuit. Saw a feature I recognised on base leg. Extended slightly and then let down again. Broke out on short final right on the centreline! Landed quite well, considering. Passengers disappointed at short duration of flight!
CFI of another school on the other side of the airfield telephoned to ask if I had enjoyed my flight. He had followed my 'progress' from the ground. Said that he saw my first approach and go-around, which was about 1/2 mile north of the field. Explained that a better option might have been to call radar of local big airport and hold clear until the cloud lifted (early morning stratus). I had plenty of fuel, after all.
Lessons learned?
It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, rather than vice-versa!
Judging the height of cloud can be difficult.
Don't rush to get back down if you have fuel and time to wait for an improvement in the weather.
Always have a back-up plan.