Esme. Scary indeed. I recall being confronted by a man with a couple springers. I was leading a group down there, saw a man with dogs, slowed and warned the riders behind me. But still he felt we endangered his expensive dogs. When one of our group got into an argument about it, the man placed his hand on a very machete like knife and threatened us. Luckily my subtle sarcasm distracted them. I got the riders climbing out safely and the man wandered off to the A39 in a right grump. He looked a bit like Jeremy Wade in poaching attire. Utter nutter!(Not the real Jeremy)
A knife welding nutter still didn’t increase the success rate of climbing out.
Also Smiths Combe has a history of being dead sheep Alley. Fewer places on the hills has more dead sheep per year, as Smiths.. Hmmm! Creepy..