Flying through the ITCZ we often find ourselves paralleling storm fronts, then turning towards them as we try to find gaps on the radar. My last lightning strike came from a Cb 40nm away. I've never yet been told to maintain heading when I've asked to deviate for weather, ATC in Europe are superb at sorting out the mess around big Cbs.
I once sat next to a PPL mate in an AA5 as he doggedly headed along the downwind side of a Cb, when I queried it he didn't want to go up-wind due to controlled airspace (Luton) We got caught in the gust front and the turbulence was pretty rough. Little AA5 handled it well, my mate was a tad surprised, and I learned a big lesson about some PPL holders being intimidated by controlled airspace.
I've flown through some mighty rough weather over the years, but the biggest lesson was actually in tightening my straps; flying a helicopter into EGLW one night I flew under a Cb, the turbulence was so bad I hit my head on the overhead panel (cutting it open on the fuel pump switches) and lost my headset just as I was about to change frequency. Landed 5 min later covered in blood and for some reason my customers took one look at me and decided to go by car!
SND