diff --git a/public/locales/en/explore.json b/public/locales/en/explore.json
index 4c7ff5e8..82a61c7d 100644
--- a/public/locales/en/explore.json
+++ b/public/locales/en/explore.json
@@ -66,5 +66,8 @@
         "paragraph1": "A visual representation of the node and its children."
       }
     }
+  },
+  "errors": {
+    "BlockFetchTimeoutError": "Failed to fetch content in {timeout}s. Please refresh the page to retry or try a different CID."
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/bundles/explore.js b/src/bundles/explore.js
index ad5aee05..34bd4b40 100644
--- a/src/bundles/explore.js
+++ b/src/bundles/explore.js
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ const makeBundle = () => {
         }
       } catch (error) {
         console.warn('Failed to resolve path', path, error)
-        return { path, error: error.toString() }
+        return { path, error }
       }
     },
     staleAfter: Infinity,
diff --git a/src/components/ExplorePage.jsx b/src/components/ExplorePage.jsx
index 1a70d709..fecd12e2 100644
--- a/src/components/ExplorePage.jsx
+++ b/src/components/ExplorePage.jsx
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { connect } from 'redux-bundler-react'
 
 import CidInfo from './cid-info/CidInfo'
 import ErrorBoundary from './error/ErrorBoundary'
+import { IpldExploreErrorComponent } from './explore/IpldExploreErrorComponent'
 import IpldGraph from './graph/LoadableIpldGraph'
 import GraphCrumb from './graph-crumb/GraphCrumb'
 import ComponentLoader from './loader/ComponentLoader'
@@ -51,13 +52,7 @@ export class ExplorePage extends React.Component {
 
         <div className='dt-l dt--fixed'>
           <div className='dtc-l w-100 w-two-thirds-l pr3-l v-top'>
-            {error
-              ? (
-              <div className='bg-red white pa3 lh-copy'>
-                {error}
-              </div>
-                )
-              : null}
+            <IpldExploreErrorComponent error={error} />
 
             {targetNode
               ? (
diff --git a/src/components/explore/IpldExploreErrorComponent.tsx b/src/components/explore/IpldExploreErrorComponent.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..341a9fc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/explore/IpldExploreErrorComponent.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import React from 'react'
+import { useTranslation } from 'react-i18next'
+
+import type IpldExploreError from '../../lib/errors'
+
+export interface IpldExploreErrorComponentProps {
+  error?: IpldExploreError
+}
+
+export function IpldExploreErrorComponent ({ error }: IpldExploreErrorComponentProps): JSX.Element | null {
+  const { t } = useTranslation('explore', { keyPrefix: 'errors' })
+  if (error == null) return null
+
+  return (
+    <div className='bg-red white pa3 lh-copy'>
+      <div>{error.toString(t)}</div>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/errors.ts b/src/lib/errors.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..785a6089
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/errors.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import { type TFunction } from 'i18next'
+
+export default class IpldExploreError extends Error {
+  constructor (private readonly options: Record<string, string | number>) {
+    super()
+    this.name = this.constructor.name
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * See IpldExploreError for usage.
+   * You must pass a t function that is registered with namespace 'explore' and keyPrefix 'errors'.
+   *
+   * @param t - the i18next-react t function
+   * @returns the translated string
+   * @example
+   * const {t} = useTranslation('explore', { keyPrefix: 'errors' })
+   * t('NameOfErrorClassThatExtendsIpldExploreError')
+   */
+  toString (t: TFunction<'translation', undefined, 'translation'>): string {
+    return t(this.name, this.options)
+  }
+}
+
+export class BlockFetchTimeoutError extends IpldExploreError {}
diff --git a/src/lib/get-raw-block.ts b/src/lib/get-raw-block.ts
index 128cd082..a6a6c053 100644
--- a/src/lib/get-raw-block.ts
+++ b/src/lib/get-raw-block.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { type IPFSHTTPClient } from 'kubo-rpc-client'
 import { CID } from 'multiformats'
 import type { Version as CIDVersion } from 'multiformats/cid'
 
+import { BlockFetchTimeoutError } from './errors'
 import getHasherForCode from './hash-importer.js'
 
 async function getCidFromBytes (bytes: Uint8Array, cidVersion: CIDVersion, codecCode: number, multihashCode: number): Promise<CID> {
@@ -130,6 +131,10 @@ export async function getRawBlock (helia: Helia, kuboClient: IPFSHTTPClient, cid
     return rawBlock
   } catch (err) {
     console.error('unable to get raw block', err)
+    if (abortController.signal.aborted) {
+      // if we timed out, we want to throw a timeout error, not a Promise.any error
+      throw new BlockFetchTimeoutError({ timeout: timeout / 1000 })
+    }
     throw err
   }
 }