What sort of bike for touring in France?

My housemate is planning a trip in the summer and wants to spend about £300 on a bike. He wants an out and out road bike - but is that not strong enough etc?

He is tall and the cheap Tricross is availible still in his size. Will that do the job?

The cheap tricross will do the job but its single speed and not geared. If he's planning on heading away from the northern flatlands then he'd going to get into difficulty. The geared tricross is more expensive.

Also the bike doesn't come with a rack, mudguards, panniers and other touring neccessities and his remaining £25 isn't going to go far on that.

Is you housemate used to riding SS? If not I would seriously advise considering a different bike.