Hi cragster!
You've probably already noticed that there a quite a few CycleChat members in your neck of the woods, and people like me a few miles further away.
Instead of coming back from Bacup through Whitworth on your normal training ride, you could climb over towards Todmorden on the A681, then turn right on the A6033 and return to Rochdale via Summit and Littleborough.
If you are training for the 'Over the Edge' ride then a very obvious training ride is to cycle to Littleborough and then up the A58 to the White House pub and back.
How about a trip to Hollingworth Lake? Rochdale, Littleborough, Hollingworth Lake, (You could do a circuit of the lake on the shared path - watch out for dogs and children dashing about - and take in the cafe halfway round), Smithy Bridge, then the A58 back into Rochdale.
You could ride to ride to Todmorden and back on the A58, A6033. Once you can manage that, add another 8 miles on by riding to Hebden Bridge and back on the A646 from Todmorden. Another 4 miles by riding to Mytholmroyd and back from Hebden Bridge.
Really though, the nicest rides round here are when you start doing more climbing to get you away from the busy roads. Once you've got your stamina up, I could suggest loads of longer, hillier routes. We get together quite often for CycleChat forum rides. You'd be welcome to come along on some of them when you think that you are ready.