On 11 November 1918, in a railway carriage parked in a clearing in the forest outside Compiègne, the armistice that ended the fighting of the First World War was signed. In June 1940 Hitler insisted that France's surrender be signed in the same carriage, at the same spot. The clearing, now called the Glade of the Armistice near Rethondes, holds a memorial and a replica carriage, and it is one of the places in northern France where history feels uncomfortably close.
The town itself sits at the meeting of the Oise and the Aisne, and its centrepiece is the royal palace, rebuilt for Louis XV and later a favourite residence of Napoleon I and Napoleon III. It is a vast, formal building facing a long park, and inside there is a national museum of cars and carriages, which makes a pleasing change from tapestries if you have a mechanical bent. Compiègne also has a darker medieval footnote: Joan of Arc was captured here in 1430 during a sortie against the Burgundians. Her statue stands in the town, and the old streets around the Gothic town hall are good for a wander.
For riders, though, the forest is the main event. The Forêt de Compiègne is one of the largest forests in France, laid out for royal hunting, and its roads reflect that: long straight avenues between beeches and oaks, meeting at star-shaped junctions where several routes radiate out at once. It is not twisty, but it is beautiful, especially in autumn when the beech leaves turn copper and the light comes down in shafts through the canopy. Watch for deer at dawn and dusk, horse riders on the verges and cyclists on weekends, and keep the speed civil.
Compiègne is big enough for everything you need: fuel, cafés, brasseries and bakeries. From here the ride east through the forest to Pierrefonds is short and very pretty, and the roads north into the Oise valley are calm. Expect speed cameras on the approach roads, as in much of France, and on rainy days take care with the cobbled streets in the old centre and slick leaves on the forest roads.