Walker bitten by adder in countryside near Ludlow
A man was forced to cut short his walking holiday after being bitten by a snake in the Shropshire countryside.
Chris Parker was walking 120 miles from Monmouth to Shrewsbury when he was bitten by what doctors believe was an adder.
The 57-year-old, from St Albans, discovered two fang marks on his shin and believes it happened near Ludlow last Tuesday.
He said: "My cousin and I had just crossed the railway track in Ludlow and shortly after that I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I had so many other aches and pains from the walk I didn't really take much notice. But then it started swelling up.
"We left Ludlow the next day and went off into the middle of nowhere. We were somewhere between Ludlow and Ironbridge so there was not much I could do about my leg at that point. I just hobbled on."
Mr Parker visited a GP in Ironbridge last Friday who confirmed it was a snake bite.
He said: "The puncture marks were about three quarters of an inch apart. I showed some of the locals in Ironbridge and they said it looked like a snake bite.
"I've never heard of anything like this before but it's a good story to tell."
Mr Parker and his cousin Robert were due to finish the walk last Saturday but have vowed to return to complete the challenge.
"We never got to Shrewsbury, sadly," he said. "But we did see a lot of the Shropshire countryside and it was absolutely fantastic - even with my painful leg.
"When we return to complete the walk I will definitely not be wearing shorts, that's for sure. I think we're actually going to extend it and explore the area a bit more because it was so lovely."
Although adder bites are fairly rare in the UK, it is not unheard of.
Earlier this month a woman in her 60s was taken to hospital after being bitten on her foot as she was walking at Whixhall Moss, near Whitchurch.
The last death in the UK from an adder bite was in 1975 when a five-year-old boy was bitten on the ankle in the Trossachs, in Scotland.
