yo gaz,
I did this route the other day, with a lunch stop at the snake pass in (steak, woof). Not particularly long, and mortimer road over the strines moor is quite bumpy in places with about 3 sharp downhill left hander which can catch you out if you go in hot. Very enjoyable ride with nice scenery, the snake pass is a bit dull with the blanket 50mph limit and solid white lines for most of the stretch.
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=V...a=2,3&t=m&z=11
Not far from manchester for you either. If you're after an all day epic then the dales isn't too far for you (hop on the m6 north and jump off onto the a684 east)
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=L...1,2,3&t=m&z=10
The road from sedbergh to hawes to get you on the route looks like this - look closely and you'll see the tarmac laid over the valleys like ribbon
North wales isn't too far from you either
The lakes is only about 90 mins from manchester, check out the honister pass, hardknott pass, whinlatter pass, kirkstone pass - google map them and work out a route to link them all together, if you want an overnight trip then ambleside backpackers is cracking value if you don't mind sharing with strangers in a hostel, plus pubs and restaurants are only a 5 minute walk back into the town.
Hope some of this helps dude
p.s. apologies for randomly sized pics, linked to images on facebook and they're all different sizes!