Rola, thanks for the reply. I put the threadless tube in this evening and promptly got a puncture in it 3.7 miles later. Oh well as they say, well actually I may have uttered a few 4 letter words, but nonetheless stuff happens.
As this was the last tube I had I took a trip to performance bike this evening to restock and decided to do with a slightly wider rear tire. My bike came with 700 x 23 tires , with a Gatorskin on the rear, upped the width on the rear only to 25 with another gator. Hope this helps carry my load a little better with regards to punctures.
Simon