Follow Our Ireland Road Trip - Day 10

Join us as we check out Kilkenny Castle, take an insane drive to Knockbodly Heights, and explore the town of Graiguenamanagh (greg·nuh·maanah).

Feb 2, 2026

12 Days in August 2024

Day 10

Hey, y’all! We are reliving the memories from our trip just over a year ago. If you’re finding this article, we highly recommend you read Follow Our Ireland Road Trip blog through Day 9 first to get caught up. 
It’s Joy’s BIRTHDAY in Ireland!!! What a way to celebrate :)

It sounds better to start this blog with the happy instead of the “we were ticked off with the combo washer/dryer on the morning of Day 10”. Needless to say, we got on the road with a few pants that had wet spots on them…

Day 10 overview:

•  Breakfast #2 at Wild Garlic
•  Self-guided tour of The Kilkenny Castle
•  Insane drive to Knockbodly Heights
•  Explored the town of Graiguenamanagh

OK, let’s dive in!

Wild Garlic (Take 2)

Nothing soothes an irritable morning quite like a delectable breakfast! We were all excited to return, enjoy great food and great conversation with Patrick. We enjoyed spending some time with him both mornings and appreciated the friendship and great advice he shared with us.

In that spirit, we are sharing two restaurants he recommended to us in Dublin: Fire Steakhouse and Chapter One.

I had my first scone of the trip here and it came with clotted cream and jam. Win! Joy had the feta omelet and the boys had the French vanilla toast that I had on Day 9.
 
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Kilkenny Castle

Prior to leaving for the one castle tour of our trip, there was excitement to be had! Mikey and Joy found the missing iPods! Hallelujah!! 



We really enjoyed the castle. The price was reasonable and we were able to wander at our leisure. 
In addition to self-guided tours, the castle offers many options:

•  Guided tours;
•  Unique experiences;
•  Sensory friendly timeslots; 
•  Alzheimer/Dementia inclusive tours;
•  ISL interpreted guided tours; and
•  Online “tours”.

The castle was originally built in the 13th century by William Marshall, the 4th Earl of Pembroke. 
Few buildings in Ireland can boast a longer history of continuous occupation than Kilkenny Castle. Founded soon after the Norman conquest of Ireland, the Castle has been rebuilt, extended and adapted to suit changing circumstances and uses over a period of 800 years.

Today, Kilkenny Castle is open to visitors all year round and is largely a Victorian remodeling of the thirteenth century defensive Castle.

Other features include a formal terraced rose garden, woodlands and a man-made lake, which were added in the nineteenth century. There is also a tearoom, playground and several orienteering trails for visitors to enjoy.

Reference: KilkennyCastle | The jewel in the crown of an enchanting medieval city

Knockbodly Heights

The drive to our last Air B&B of the trip was a NAIL BITER. The roads were crazy tiny and we had a few close calls. Alex honestly got us through it!

This home was absolutely huge for our party. The host, Corona was warm and welcoming. Alex got to meet her husband and we all enjoyed the family pets-especially Mikey. It was so cute how they came up to the window and visited.





Joy here: It was so much fun to play with some dogs after being dogless for so many days. I found it a great added bonus to our stay :) 

We were not very prepared for Joy’s birthday dinner, so Corona helped us out. She called ahead and got us a table at Waterside. We got there quite close to closing time, but the staff were so welcoming and wonderful! 



Alex had the red chicken curry (which he had seen on many menus and was wanting to try), Joy had Guinness pot roast and MO had a chicken Caesar salad. We all shared cream filled chocolate puff pastries drizzled in caramel. 

Graiguenamanagh

Say that word, will you? We practiced several times and have listened to it online, but MO still cannot get it down pat. However, after dinner, we walked over a small bridge and along the waterfront. There were some locals out swimming and it’s interesting to see how the water was-not a stream, not quite a waterfall. We also noticed some interesting pay-to-use stand alone sauna houses.

As we walked back over the bridge, we were surprised to hear bells tolling. It was so very nice to hear-it is a shame that bells are not a part of life as they once were. We did briefly take a look at Duiske Abbey that the bell was attached to.

We ended the night at the local pub, M. Doyle. It was a mature crowd of locals and we enjoyed listening to them chat and volley over the Olympics. We toasted Joy’s birthday one last time before calling it a day.