abgd, I was too busy coping with the situation to be scared.
And because:
the aircraft is pretty stable and trimmed at the airspeed
there were no high obstacles in the direction of flight
if you keep the compass steady, the ball in the middle, the VSI just above zero and the airspeed steady you won't stall or spin
my GPS has terrain and obstacle warnings which I kept one eye on
thus I was able to manage without gyro instruments.
The difficult decision was whether to climb up higher for increased terrain/obstacle avoidance but risk being in cloud for longer or to descend to get a constant view of the ground and risk running into something. A gentle climb seemed to make the most sense, which I did.
Rans6.........