SUCCESS!!
many thanks for all your advice and help.
The cable was jammed in the shifter, I took a walk to the lbs (actually i rode her like a SS) and asked the chap there if I should yank the thing out or not. He grabbed a set of pliers and did just that. The shifter end of my cable was totally shot, almost split in half... amazing on such a new bike.
I rode home, fitted the new cable, set up the barrell and shifted to the smallest sprocket. and sat back too nervous to turn the crank...seriously, I walked away and made a cup of tea!...on the first turn of the crank she shifted up smooth as silk. Fantastic feeling to know that I've had to work my way through this and gain a little understanding of indexing and shifters.
I had to adjust a little and let off some slack to reach the top sprocket (largest) but she is now shifting beautifully...all set for Monday.
The moral of the story is, Never assume a new bikes internal bits are as well looked after as her external bits and now I know I need new cables. I shall have to dig out for those Gore ones, as they do look very shiny.
Shaun, apologies for the double and off topic thread, feel free to shift this back to know how.