Dan Walker on bike accident: 'My whole body aches'

TV presenter Dan Walker has said his "whole body aches" and he has had to eat through a straw since being injured in a bike crash.

Describing the ordeal in the Sunday Times, Mr Walker said he knew "he could have died" when he was hit by a car while cycling in Sheffield on Monday.

He added he was "very happy" he could not remember much about what happened.

But he said he could recall how "deeply distressed" the driver looked, and thanked them for "staying around".

"I know I could have died but I also know how easy it is to make a mistake, even when you're trying to be careful," he said in the article.

The former BBC Breakfast presenter said he "can't imagine" what the driver was now going through, adding: "If you're reading this, I'm going to be OK."

Mr Walker described struggling to breathe as he lay on the ground for about 25 minutes after the crash, drifting in and out of consciousness.

Everything went black until he saw the faces of two paramedics, a police officer and the driver of the car looking down at him, he added.

Dan Walker said he could have died if he had not been wearing a helmet

Once in the ambulance, paramedics told him they were concerned about his face, now bloodstained and swollen, but that his helmet "probably saved my life" and all the damage was in the area below it.

Later at the hospital, an X-ray confirmed that "despite the pain, nothing was broken".

Mr Walker shared the news of his accident on social media, where he praised the NHS and spoke about his helmet.

But his message received some backlash. Motorists were angry he was "on the road at all" and that the driver hadn't "finished the job" - and some cyclists accused him of victim blaming by "talking about helmets at all" when the real problem was, they said, "idiots in their tanks".

Mr Walker continued: "However I choose to get from A to B, I never feel like I'm in a war and I don't think it's 'my road'. My helmet is smashed and I'm glad that it wasn't my head."

He added his teeth still "feel bruised" and he has an ulcer "the size of a 20p piece" under his front lip.

"I have been eating through a straw for most of the week. My left wrist is really painful to move and every day I'm finding another lump or little chunk of flesh missing," he said.

The presenter said he hated "doing nothing" and hoped to return to his role as a Channel 5 news anchor.

"As long as the swelling and bruising have gone down, I think I will go back to work later this week," he wrote.