A man who aims to be the first person to unicycle around the world was only able to clock up seven miles on his first day – due to his egg sandwiches.

Ed Pratt, 19, headed to the start line of his 18,000-mile tour in Chilthorne Domer, Somerset, last weekend but realised he had forgotten his packed lunch.

His parents took the two sandwiches out of their fridge at home and handed them over to Pratt to put in his specially made pannier bag. He managed to cram the sandwiches in but the zip split, meaning Pratt could only cycle seven miles before returning home.

A friend offered to replace all four zips on his panniers and so Pratt was able to set off again. He spent most of the past week pedalling up the north coast of France.

The unicycle enthusiast, who aims to complete the charity trip for School In A Bag in two years, finally boarded a ferry to St Malo.

“I cycled by myself to the official start line and there were about 50 people there to cheer me off,” he said.

“When the zip split it was a disaster because I couldn’t just go out and get another one, these are custom-made bags.

“The official start had been quite hectic so it was nice to start again and say goodbye to my parents, it just felt like a normal unicycle ride.”

Pratt first learned how to unicycle two years ago and set up a unicycle club at his former school and completed the 140-mile C2C route across England.

He will pedal his 36-inch Nimbus Oracle unicycle through France to the Netherlands, then across Europe, through China, down southeast Asia and across Australia and the US. The route then ventures through Portugal and Spain before heading up the southern coast of France towards England.

“I started to consider what I wanted to do after finishing my A-levels and university really didn't appeal,” he said.

“Travelling the world was what I wanted to do and then the idea came to do it on a unicycle. I’ll be camping as much as I can to cut costs and give me flexibility – the tent, sleeping bag, camping stove and everything else are packed in my panniers.”

The School In A Bag charity provides stationary equipment and other resources to enable a poor, orphaned, vulnerable or disaster-affected child to write, draw, colour and learn.

Pratt's journey can be followed on www.worldunicycletour.com.