SUMMIT-SEEKER Sarah Hudson left her County Durham home town to travel the world, climb mountains and work abroad.

Now the 32-year-old lives and works in Germany, spends every weekend scaling the Bavarian and Austrian Alps and in almost a decade has conquered 80 peaks.

Originally of Ferryhill, the alpine adventurer has launched a blog to promote her trips and their positive impact on her wellbeing.

Having suffered anxiety, panic attacks and depression from her teens into her early twenties, she found exploring the great outdoors helped her cope and confront her mental health issues.

Mrs Hudson, who now lives in Munich, said: “I started this blog because I suffered so badly and I’ve seen how much people can benefit from challenging themselves and getting out doors and into a green space.

"I started off by just getting out the house and it’s led on from one thing to another.”

After leaving school Mrs Hudson started at Northumbria University but was forced to quit as a result of her anxiety and panic attacks.

“Twelve years ago I suffered so badly with anxiety and depression,” she said.

“I wouldn’t leave the house alone and I wouldn’t even get out of bed. It was so bad.

"I was having panic attacks and I thought ‘there must be more to life’.

“I started running and therapy, and then started hiking in the Lake District.”

In 2007, at the age of 21, she returned to the same university to study quantity surveying.

Two years later, during her study, she spent one month in Cairo, in Egypt, and reached the highest summit to date - Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania.

“I always wanted to do Kilimanjaro, since I was eight years old,” she said. “I just never thought it would happen.

“It sparked the aspiration to do higher altitudes.”

In a spell of unemployment Mrs Hudson hiked as much as possible in the Lake District but was put out of action in 2010 due to a dislocated shoulder.

In 2012 a new job took her to Leeds where she met German wife Katrin through their shared love of climbing.

The pair lived together and travelled from the UK for two years and in 2014 moved to Munich, from where they have continued to pursue mountain-climbing, hiking and ski touring across the world.

In 2016 they tied the knot on Bavarian mountain Kampenwand.

A procurement leader for a global manufacturing firm by day, at night and at the weekends Mrs Hudson is driving forward with her mission to reach the top of as many summits as possible.

Three months ago her travel, lifestyle and adventure blog, Touching the Summit went live.

Not only a platform to pass on tips and inspire other would-be travellers to create their own adventures, it advocates getting active as a way of maintaining wellbeing and coping with mental health problems.

For more information visit touchingthesummit.com, facebook.com/touchingthesummit or find @touchingsummit on Twitter.