I'm up that way in a couple of weeks and fancy taking the bike while my girlfriend sees her friend to talk about shoes and sylvanian families.

Any suggestions? I can probably ride for a couple of hours so the less car time spent getting somewhere the better

You could get to Rivington in an hour, but if you could make it an hour and a half each way, you'd get yourself to the southern lakes.

Alternatively, head south for the Peak District (Hayfield etc), or head across to the Trough of Bowland (Dunsop Bridge area). Email SFB or visit Bogtrotters.org

Rivi and/or Darwen Tower from Abbey Village, the latter is only 5 or 10 minutes of the M65, so easily within your hour.

If you're a fairly nippy driver llandegla is only an hour from southport.
Or rivi.
And maybe even south lakes if you stretch it a smidge.

Pook, i'm 25mins from southport by car, and can be up rivvy in hour by bike. I can put a route together and show you if your interested. Mail in profile.

Llandegla about an hour and 15, pretty straightforward to get to.